


I Will Look After You (Larry Stylinson)

by Rayne_Dreams



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Cheating, Fake Marriage, Falling In Love, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Heartbreak, Love/Hate, M/M, Marriage, Mpreg, Past Relationship(s), Romance, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-26 08:08:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 58,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14397861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rayne_Dreams/pseuds/Rayne_Dreams
Summary: This is a story about Harry Styles, a famous hotelier and Louis Tomlinson, an average guy who somehow found himself working for Mr. Styles in one of his hotels.And their twisted destiny who made a way for them to find each other's heart. But that way was very complicated because it was...a Fake Marriage.*There was a guy with broken heart who met a guy with fallen hopes.No one has yearned , no one has suffered.They met in such a way that even the sound of heart-beats wasn't heard.Both of them didn't realise what had started to happen between them.What they weren't supposed to say, they started saying that.What they weren't supposed to hear, they started hearing that.The things that were supposed to be known remained unknown.But the thing that was about to happen, happened between them.One heart found it's own way to the other. And their life got lost in the lane of love.





	1. Prologue

(April, 2014, New York)  
. 

Louis was about to cross the road when he heard someone screaming in the alley a few feet away. He started walking towards the alley with quick steps. 

When he reached there he saw that three guys were beating someone mercilessly behind the dumpster. He advanced towards them, 

" Oi... Leave 'em alone." 

" Fu¢k off man or you'll be in the place of this bit¢h." one of the three said turning to him, still holding the almost dead guy down. 

" Shut the fu¢k up and leave him alone or I will call the cops." 

The one who spoke before, tossed the guy he was gripping on, to others and started walking towards Louis. 

When he reached to him, they both made eye contact for a second and the other guy balled up his fist and lift up his hand to punch Louis in the face. But Louis rapidly hunched down and threw one power packed punch into his guts. 

The guy instantly stumbled back holding his throbbing stomach. At that the two who were holding the pitite boy, rushed towards them and threw him next to Louis. 

They were about to attack him together but someone else rushed towards them with much speed, brushing past Louis and pushed them back to the dumpster. He hold them with their throats and pushed them down on to the dumpster. 

" When he asked you to leave the guy, you should have listened to him." the guy who's face was still hid from Louis said to the two boys in a really deep and intimidating voice. 

" Take the guy to hospital right now , he needs medical attention. The hospital is only a block away from here to the right. I'll take care of them. " the stranger said to Louis without even looking at him. 

Louis couldn't process what was happening but when he heard the stranger talking to him, he snapped out of his shocked phase and shook his head in yes. He started helping the injured guy up and put one of his arm around his neck to help him stand on his feet. 

The guy was barely awake and his face was covered with lots of scratches and cuts, that were bleeding. The guy wasn't able to talk properly but he started mumbling some incoherent words again and again, that seemed like 'thank you'. 

Louis was about to turn right from the alley, when he looked back to the stranger, he was still holding down one of the guy on the dumpster while the other two were laying on the ground, one holding his nose and another their croch.

Louis had no idea when that happened, because he didn't hear a thing. 

Louis was still confused that why would someone like the guy be roaming around in this part of the town at this late. He was also out at the time but he needed some fresh air to think and to get the stress out of his head but the way this guy was dressed, seemed like he was coming out of some party or function. 

The stranger was wearing an expensive floral suit that was alone giving out the vibe that the guy definitely doesn't belongs to this side of the town. He was without a doubt 6 ft tall and his hair were long, a bit down to his broad shoulders. The amount of time he heard him speak, it was screaming dominance in his voice. 

That's all he can think before the guy he was holding, started whimpering in pain. Louis looked at the stranger one last time and walk out of the alley completely and headed to the hospital. 

That was the first time they met but none of them saw each others face. 

 

\------------------------------

(1 February 2015, London )   
. 

Louis was hopeless and that was not just the beginning of his problems. He cried the night before but no one knew about it because he was living alone. He was a strong person but everyone faces a time when their inner strength gives up on them and breaks them down. 

He stepped out of his apartment an hour ago for a walk and get a bite to eat ; he hasn't eaten anything in two days. It was one his stupid habits to stop eating whenever he gets tensed or depressed. 

After walking around in the park for a while he headed towards the Pizza Hut that was across the street. He made-up his mind to eat at the restaurant rather than taking it home. After ordering his regular Pepperoni Pizza he turned to the sitting area in the restaurant. 

He was looking around for any seats left but couldn't find one so he just asked to an employee that was passing by for assistance. The guy pointed to a table that was right behind him and said that there's the only seat left in the restaurant right now. 

Louis thanked him for the help and turned to the way he pointed to , he almost reached to the seat when one of the guy that was sitting there with his two friends, looked at him. The seat that was empty and Louis was about to sit on was next to him. 

The guy turned his head to look at the empty seat next to him the same time when Louis did. When both of them turned their head to each other, once again their eyes made contact but this time none of them averted them. 

Both of them couldn't understand what was holding them back from averting their eyes from each other. Maybe it was pain or maybe it was yearn in other's eyes that was attracting them but one thing was clear in both of their minds that they were finally feeling calm and composed after such a long time. They were sure that they could look into each other's eyes for the eternity. 

When someone bumped into him, Louis blinked his eyes and both of them got back from their own world. 

It happened so fast but when Louis tried to look at him again, he just couldn't and scrambled back quickly walking towards the door. He was almost out of the restaurant when he realizes that his order was still not ready. So he walks back to the counter and asked them to make his order a takeaway. 

All those 10 minutes when he was waiting there for his food, he didn't turn for a second to the way the guy was sitting. But he still can feel the guy's eyes on him. As soon as he got a hold on to his food he literally ran out of the door. 

He was breathless , his heart was beating really loud and blood was pumping through his veins really fast. When he turned back for a second to look through the glass window, he found himself staring into his eyes again ; the guy was still looking at him. 

Louis just clutched his eyes shut and ran towards the way his apartment was. 

And that was the first time when they saw each other but they were still unknown to the fact that they already had met before.


	2. Mr. Blue Eyes

( April 2017, London)  
.

Harry was waiting for the Heathrow Express at Paddington station, jumping on his heels in anticipation. He was really late and was sure that the person he was going to receive at the airport was definitely going to kick his ass for being this late. But it was not his fault that his car broke down and none of the taxis were available . 

He was constantly looking at his watch and the train schedule that was hung on the wall . He was about to look at the wall again when his eyes recognized someone specific. 

He can never forget the face that he saw two years ago, he can never erase the memory from that day. He used to have dreams about those ocean deep cerulean eyes, almost every night. He was hooked on to them really bad . 

But when he finally averted his eyes from his face, he saw that the guy with most beautiful eyes was not alone. There was another guy standing in front of him but the thing made Harry sad was, there was also a girl there and she was holding on to his Mr. Blue Eyes. 

They both were really couply and cozy with each other. Harry couldn't understand why was he feeling so jealous of that girl, it's not like that guy was ever going to talk to him, and after his past....... he was also not going to let anyone hurt him again ; but it was really hard to get over from Mr. Blue Eyes. 

Harry moved his sight from them to somewhere else but his eyes kept stealing glances from that way.

After a few seconds when he turned to them again, he saw that the girl was not with him anymore but was kissing the guy who was standing in front of them and HIS Mr. Blue Eyes was talking on the phone while smiling at them. 

Harry never felt that much relieved when he saw that happening, EVER . 

Well now that his guy was not with the girl, Harry decided to take a chance to talk to him and that's why with a bit of nervousness and hesitation, he walked towards them. 

He was going to do a really stupid thing and he was well aware of it. 

" umm, excuse me." he says looking at the group but focusing his attention on someone specific. 

All the three heads turned to him, and now Harry was sweating because his eyes were again locked with those cerulean ones, that were open wide like saucers. 

He recognized him too. 

"Yes...." the girl said giving him an amused look. 

" uuuu Do-do I know you from somewhere?" 

Harry said and facepalmed at himself in his mind too. Because he couldn't get anything better to say could he. 

Idiot 

" Well I don't think so." the girl said raising one eyebrow and the guy who was maybe his boyfriend, gave him a stern look. 

" Oh no, actually I was talking to him." Harry pointed to Mr. Blue Eyes, and the guy was now even more flushed and his eyes widen more if it was even possible. 

" umm..... I - I (clears throat) I don't think so too." he lied. 

"oh...... Well..... I'm sorry to disturb you guys then. I'm really sorry." and he walked away from them, stopping where he was stood before. He let his head sag lower and lower in disappointment and shame because he was sure that the guy recognized him but chose not to show it, was he not looking good enough today. heavy sigh*

After a couple of seconds his train arrives at the station and the door opens.He got in but he turns to get a last glimpse of the beautiful person who literally rejected him. 

But what shocked him that Mr. Blue Eyes was already looking at him with some emotions in his eyes that could easily be recognized as apologies. 

Doors of the train closes and train start to leave the platform but they kept looking into each others eyes like they did when they first met, until they couldn't anymore. 

They both felt the same like two years ago. 

\-----------

( 31 May 2017 , London) 

Harry was going home from his work and was about to get into his car, when he saw him again. He was standing right across the road ; Mr. Blue Eyes .

He was again fixated to him. 

The guy was definitely waiting for someone as he was standing there all fidgety and bouncing on the heels. 

Harry got distracted for a split second when his driver asked him to get in. When he looked back across the road, the guy was getting in a car before the car drove off. 

Harry was staring at the spot where he saw him for a while and then he too got in the car and drove away. 

\-------------

(15 July 2017, London) 

 

It was 9 in the morning when Louis walked into his workplace which was known as "Styles Regency" from Styles groups of hotels. 

(Styles Hotels Corporation, a multinational owner, operator and franchiser of Hotels and resorts and one of the top hotel chains in the world.) 

It’s been only 6 weeks since he was appointed as a front desk employee at the Regency and he was loving it here. He made a few good friend here and all the staff was really very friendly. He was finally happy after a long time. 

" Morning, Niall." Louis chirped happily to his newly became friend and colleague, when he walked in the lobby. 

"Hello and good morning to you, Tommo AND you again missed him. You know that's like a new record for anyone who works here at the Regency to not meet Mr. Styles even after them joining for likeeeee........ " Niall said amused. 

" 6 weeks Niall." he said chuckling. 

"Yeah, 6 weeks. So tell me the secret, how did you manage to do that." he said wiggling his eyebrows. He was now hovering over the desk on his elbows to get close to him. 

Louis pushed him back by his face and he lands on the chair behind the desk. 

" Shut up, Niall. And there is no secret at all. It's just a coincidence that whenever he comes in or leaves, either my shift was supposed to be over or hasn't even started yet. So that's that." he smiles at him and starts walking towards the locker area to get changed into his uniform. 

" Yada-Yada-Yada." Niall waves him off and Louis just shakes his head while chuckling at his idiot friend. 

-

Louis and Niall were at the front desk doing their jobs when manager of the hotel walked in along with his girlfriend and the assigned interior designer for the Regency. 

Zayn Malik and Perrie Edwards. 

"Good afternoon lads, how's everything going ?" Zayn asked them. 

"Good afternoon Mr. Malik and Ms. Edwards. Everything is going absolutely great and welcome back. We missed you." Niall and Louis said happily. 

"Afternoon Niall, Louis." Perrie wished them back after hanging up the call she was on to. 

"Awwwwwwwww I missed you guys too......... but that was in the past...... now lets talk about the future........... I was informed that there was a wedding supposed to be happen in a day or two and the guests would be started coming after 2 pm today ....?" he smiled at them. 

"Actually yes, Mr. Malik......." 

" How many times do I have to tell you guys, do not call me" Mr. Malik" when there are no asswipes aka boardmembers around. I feel like, I am one of those old ogres . " Zayn said in annoyed voice interrupting him. 

"All right, sorry ZAYN. And as I was saying that the wedding is the day after tomorrow and tomorrow night will be the rehearsal dinner. And yes, the guests will start arriving after 2pm." he completes. 

"Allright and everything is ready for that in the Regency , according to their demands? Have you guys received the guest list yet? " he asked. 

"Yes everything is ready and is according to their demands. They do emailed a fresh list this morning which includes 3 more guests but we adjusted them easily." he explained professionally. 

" So what left now..... Wait.... Who is going to receive all the guests ? " 

" umm we were about to ask you that... " Niall said. 

" OK so that's definitely you then. " Zayn mocked. 

" WHAT ....... How am I supposed to handle all of these guests all by myself, I need someone else too. " he said baffled. Everyone started laughing at his response, even Louis. 

" Choose who ever you want but the person should be reliable, alright." Zayn said. 

" Choose Louis, he is great with guests as far as I know. Maybe it is his first time to assisting a wedding but I'm sure he will do it efficiently ." Perrie adviced. 

"Allright then, it's settled you are doing it with Tommo. All the best guys............ And by the way, Griffiths is coming today so better watch out for yourself okay . He is the biggest asshole of 'em all." Zayn said giving thumbs up to them before kissing Perrie and started moving towards to the lifts to get to his office on the top floor. 

" It's the truth guys and all the best and specifically Louis, it's your first experience so learn okay...... And I'll see you guys later , I have to check the venue too. Bye." with that she walks away too. 

"Hmmm. So Tommo are you ready for this marriage." Niall said to him with creepy smile. 

"It's called Wedding Niall and yes, but I'm still nervous." he said, in fact looking a bit nervous. 

"Oh c'mon we'll have funnnn......." and with that he drags him along to the cafeteria for lunch. 

*

It was 5 pm now and 80% of the guests has already arrived and settled in at Regency. Louis and Niall were handling everything smoothly. All the guests were very happy with their hospitality and assistance. 

Louis was talking to the person who's sister was the bride and also who hired the Regency for the wedding, Mr. Corden. They were checking the guest list when Mr. Corden's 8 year old daughter came running to them. 

"Daddy I want to go to the washroom ..... Like real bad...."  she said holding her belly to somehow control her bladder. 

"Honey what are you doing here and where is your mum and aunt......" Mr. Corden said trying to pick her up but she refuses. 

" They are busy with the others, Dad I want to go now......" she started whining. 

"Love, I'm receiving the guests here .I can not leave this spot." he reasoned. 

"But daddy........ Wait... He can take me.... Will you take me to the washroom, Mr. Blue Eyes." She said to Louis making innocent puppy like eyes. 

"I... I... I can not love. That's a girl's washroom and I'm a boy. I can't go in." he said in apologetic way. 

"Oh don't worry about that, all you have to do is to wait outside, I'll handle everything myself." she said already pulling him away. 

" Mr. Corden....?" he asks him. 

"Just give me the list, I'll handle it with Niall, you guys go and Grace, No misbehaving okay....." Mr. Corden says. 

"Yes, Daddy. Now can we please go." 

"Allright. Look after her, Louis." 

" Sure sir." 

Then Louis and Grace move towards the washrooms . When they reached their, one of Louis' friend and colleagues, Amber was going in so he just asked her to take care of Grace while she was inside and she did. 

When after few minutes Grace came out with Amber, they were both laughing really hard, which Louis had no idea at what. 

"Thanks, Amber." Grace kisses her on cheeks when she fixes her dress. 

"No problem sweetheart but I need to rush now. I'll see you later yeah." Amber says and they both bids their goodbye, for now. 

"Allright, now let's go to your dad yeah." Louis says smiling to her and offers a hand to her to hold. 

"Sure, Mr. Blue Eyes." she giggles when Louis shakes his head in amusement at the nickname he earned from her. 

The whole time when Louis was receiving the guests along with Niall and Mr. Corden, Grace was trailing behind him. She sometimes introduce him to some of her favorite family members and friends too. Louis was already adoring the little girl full of positive energy and happiness. 

When almost every guest on the list has arrived except for 3 couples who were supposed to be arriving late in the evening, Mr. Corden asked them to get some rest. 

Louis was at the front desk again doing his regular duties when Grace walked up to him. 

"Hi, Mr. Blue Eyes." she says jumping on her toes to get a look of what he was doing there. 

"Hey there Miss Happy go Lucky Grace. And I'm doing some work. You need anything love." Louis asked her smiling but looked around to make sure she wasn't there on her own. 

Her mother was sitting in lounge area, talking to one of her friend but kept glancing at Grace every once in a while, Louis smiles at her to let her know that he is okay with it. 

"Thank you, but I'm good. I was just getting bored with mum there so I thought to come up to you and say hi. So......." she said smiling and bouncing from one to another heel . 

"Allright." he chuckles at her and they get involved in talking about some random things. They both were really comfortable with each other. 

Somehow Louis found himself showing her around the lounge area and other things around the floor.

Right now Grace was trying to drag him towards the kitchen but Louis was against it because first of all it's really dangerous there with all the knives and fire and second of all they both could disturb working chefs in there.

So that was a big no from Louis but still, Grace was stubbornly pulling him to the kitchen area. But before they could barely reach there, Louis stumbled upon something on the carpet due to the force Grace was pulling him with and resulting him bump into someone. 

" Watch your steps, you idiot." the guy who was a bit overly aggressive, roared at him after pushing him away. Louis scrambled back in surprise and looked up to him with apologetic eyes and then lowered them while saying. 

"I'm really sorry sir for my unprofessional behaviour. It won't happen again. I'm really extremely sorry for this, Sir." 

"Oh, so you're an employee here. What's your name." he looks at him disgusted and snatches at his name tag to read it. 

"Hey, what are you doing......" Grace shouts at him in anger. 

"Grace, please go to your mum love." Louis instantly shush her down but she wouldn't move from her spot an inch but kept looking at the the man that was insulting her Mr. Blue Eyes, with angry eyes. 

The man looks at the girl and gives her a creepy smile before talking to Louis, "Louis. Hmmm I've never seen you here before. When did you get the job here ?" he spat the words at him. 

"umm six weeks ago, Sir." Louis answered the question, still not looking at him ; the man was so intimidating. 

" Look at me when you answer me. Haven't you learned anything in these past six weeks here or are you that dumb. People like you shouldn't be allowed in the Regency, I don't know how they even hired you. Look at your self. 

You know what, I think I'm going to check out your records up until now and if I found a single mistake in it, you can kiss this job goodbye. And I can get rid off of an ugly spot like you from the shinning Styles Regency...... Got it. Now bugger off. Stupid New Junkies. "  he walks away proud from there, after insulting the poor lad. 

This was the first time when someone did this to him, ever. He has always been a good employee, no matter where does he work. And it wasn't even that big of a mistake that anyone can say so many bad things to him.

Louis was in tears, he never heard anyone saying things like that about him ever before. But the worst thing was that the man said he could take his job for this and he literally cannot afford that right now. He got this job after so many difficulties. 

"Louis, you okay.....?" Grace asks him tugging at his pant. 

"Grace, go to your mum love, I need to talk to Louis for a bit okay." Mr. Corden request to her daughter politely and she nods but before she leaves, she tugs at Louis' jacket to get his attention. He looks at her and when she puts her arms up to pick her up, he gives her a watery smile and picks her up in arms. 

" You don't worry about that meanie ok, he is a bad person and I promise you that God will give him punishment for making you sad. But please don't cry Mr. Blue Eyes, I like your eyes when they are happy." she wipes his tears that squeeze out even when he tried them not to, and kisses them after. 

After hearing that Louis couldn't control over his emotions anymore and after handing her over to her father, he rushes to the washroom. Grace looks at her father almost in tears but he tries to calm her down by saying that he needs some time. 

After 10 minutes when Grace walked up to the lobby again to check on Louis with his father, he still wasn't there. So Mr. Corden asks Niall about him but he has no clue about what happened before so he explains him everything and Niall starts rushing towards the washroom . Grace requests his father to let her go with Niall to check on Louis too and after seeing her like that emotional, he gives her permission. 

When Niall and Grace walked into the washroom there was no one in the sight but they can still hear someone whimpering. 

"Lou, open the door, I know it's you in there. Please talk to me." Niall knocked on the door. 

"Please Ni, I want to be alone right now." he says groggily. 

"Louis please stop crying and please come out, we want to talk to you." Grace says, now after hearing his voice like that she also started tearing up. 

"Grace, please go to your dad love." Louis says putting his hand on the door, tears still streaming down his cheeks. 

"Dad's outside and I'm not going anywhere until you come out." she said in stern voice to him. 

At that Louis looks at the door like he was looking at her face and shakes his head at her stubbornness and chuckles a little. After wiping his tears and making himself presentable, he comes out. 

As soon as Grace looks at him, he gives her a tiny smile and bends down to open his arms for her to hug him. She rushes to him right away and hugs him with all of her strength. And Niall walks out to get a water bottle for him. 

"I told you not to cry, then why did you cry so much, Lou. Look at your beautiful eyes, they are so red and puffy now." she scolded him and started inspecting the damage to her favorite pair of blue eyes. 

Louis kept quiet until she was done and then said sorry to her. Niall walked in with a water bottle then and smiled at the scene infront of him. 

Louis looks at him and smiles. 

"Grace, love would you give us sometime, I need to talk to him about something....." Niall asks her sitting beside them. 

" Allright but if he cried again, I'm going to kick you in the head. Alright." she looks at him with narrowed eyes , still hugging Louis close protectively. 

" Deal. "

" Deal. " they both fistbump and after kissing Louis on his eyes and cheeks, she walks out of the washroom. Niall gives him the water bottle and ask him about it and after a moment Louis explains him everything. 

Grace was walking with his dad to go to his room but when she saw him again, she couldn't hold her anger any more and rushes towards him after untangling her hand from her father.

Her father already saw where she was heading to and started walking behind her but kept a distance to see what she was going to do. He wanted to raise her good & strong and fighting for your loved ones, always matters to him. 

When Grace reaches to them she notices that there were two other people with him . So when she looked at them and calculated that one was taller than the mean man. She walked up to him and tugs on his pants and when the man looks down to her she lifts her arms up. 

"Can you please pick me up Mr. Curly." she says smiling to him. 

The guy looks at her for a second and than picks her up in his arms. 

"Thank you." she smiles at him after kissing him on one cheek and turns to the mean man with angry eyes. 

"And you, how could you do that to Louis. Why did you said all those bad things to him, you know how much he cried. His beautiful eyes are so red now. And it's all because of you, you meanie old ogre." she was breathing heavily due to her anger and everyone around them were shocked from her outburst. 

" You don't dare to talk to me like that you little.......... " before the mean man could continue, the man who was holding Grace, interrupted him with warning. 

"Mr. Griffiths, do I have to remind you that you are talking to a child. You should better calm your voice down and filter out your vocabulary before you speak. " his voice was deep and commanding. 

"But...." 

"No buts. And now you Miss, you should not talk to someone like that too y'know." 

"He is the one who insulted my friend first Mr. Curly. He said so many bad things to him that he cried for so long." she retorted. 

"She's a liar. I don't know what she is talking about." Griffiths tries to save his ass. 

" Oh really, then I think I'm lying too, ain't I." Mr. Corden walks into the discussion. 

"Mr. Corden, how are you and.......... What is going on?" the guy said shifting Grace from one arm to another to shake hands with him. 

"I'm Fine Mr. Styles and that little girl in your arms is my daughter, Grace. Whatever she is saying is true, because I have witnessed everything with my eyes. This guy over here, is the one who is lying not my daughter." he explained and took Grace from his arms. 

" What do mean by that? " the third person spoke. 

" I mean Mr. Malik, he insulted one of your employee and threatened him for taking his job, just because of a small innocent mistake. "

Mr. Styles and Zayn looks at him confused. So he explains them everything. And after listening to everything, the two man were beyond furious at the man. 

" Zayn, could you please call Mr. Horan and tell him to bring Mr. Louis here right this instance. " Mr. Styles said looking straight into Griffiths eyes with full of anger. 

"Sure." with that Zayn dials Niall's number and asks him and Louis to come meet them in the conference room. 

All 5 of them were waiting for Niall and Louis in the conference room when both of them walked in. As soon as Grace gets a glimpse of Louis she rushes to his side and Louis lifts her up again in his arms and hugs her. 

Mr. Styles turns to them but couldn't look at Louis face because it was hid by Grace. But when Niall looks at Mr. Styles' curious face, he clears his throat to get Louis attention. At that Louis looks up to him and Niall nods towards the others. 

That's when he turns his face and sight to the room but felt like frozen because of the person he watches standing in front of him. 

It was the guy, from the Paddington station and the one whom he met two years ago. 

He can never forget those dazzling green eyes that can sometimes turn into Hazel and some times into blue with speck of golden brown, when they were boring into his own cerulean ones. 

But what was he doing here ?


	3. "Mr. Styles."

(July 2017, London)

Harry was shocked would be an understatement. The person he has been hooked on to, was standing in front of his eyes AND in his hotel. 

When Louis turned to him, his face was mirroring Harry's, they were both flabbergasted. They never thought that their life will again bring them in front of each other like this. 

"Ummm Mr. Styles, this is Louis Tomlinson. And Louis, he is the CEO of Styles Hotels Corporations, Mr. Harry Edward Styles." Niall introduced them while breaking the awkward silence in the room. 

When Louis heard Niall saying that he turned to look at him with wide eyes and Niall nodded his head. He turned to look at Harry again but he was already looking at him and that made him to look down in coy . But before anyone could say something else Griffiths started talking, 

" You don't need to introduce him Niall, he's not some VIP and I'm sure Harry, here knows that well enough . Anyway now that we have meet again, I would like to introduce myself to you properly. I'm Richard Griffiths, CFO of this company. 

AND there is no place for some lousy person like you at the Regency. So you better clear out your locker and submit your uniforms. "

"Mr. Griffiths, please don't talk to him like that." Zayn tried to stop him but he ignored his request and Continue insulting Louis. 

Harry was looking at Louis' face, which was bowed down in embarrassment. Harry was gripping on the chair so tight that his knuckles were turning white, to control his anger. 

"You know, you should first learn some things like manners or style. And at least learn how one should walk properly, before you start working in any down market restaurant. Styles Regency is beyond your limits." 

After hearing some more insult about himself he couldn't hold himself from looking up at Harry in his eyes unconsciously. And suddenly a warm tear rolled down from his pink, burning cheeks in embarrassment. 

As soon as Harry looked at his hurt expressions, his eyes filled with anger and he stopped the insults that the man was throwing at Louis, 

"ENOUGH" his loud voice booming in the room. 

Griffiths again tried to say something, 

"Harry, what ar...." 

"I SAID, ENOUGH. No one has the right to insult anyone in this company. Not even you.

I have a lot of complaints about you, insulting or threatening my colleagues. But from now on, NOT. ANYMORE." Harry was some how controlling his mind before he would do something to the man. 

"Correction Harry, he's not your colleague. He's just a front desk guy, an employee and you are the owner of this company. " 

" He IS my colleague and I'm not the owner of this company, my Parents are. I work for them and as you do too. We all are colleagues here in this company, so it would be better for you, if you say sorry to him. Because what you did was completely unacceptable and unprofessional. "

" You want ME to say sorry to HIM, have you lost your mind, Harry." he said in disgust, looking at Louis. 

"Yes indeed, and if you can't say sorry, than please leave this building right this moment before I do something that you do not want to." Harry said keeping his calm and gestured his hand to the door. 

"You are insulting me for this cheep guy, HARRY STYLES ." he barked in humiliation. 

"If you don't leave this room this instance than you won't be anymore." 

"STYLES YOU BETTER WATC...." 

"MR. GRIFFITHS, I'm warning you last time." 

Griffiths gives him an angry growl and turns to the door. He was about to exit when he looked at Louis and said, 

"You're going to pay for this, Lousy." he said smirking at him. 

"That's it, you're fired, get the fuck out of my company." Harry says coming towards them and stands between him and Louis. 

"You can not do that Styles, I'm the CFO of this company." 

"AND I'M THE CEO OF STYLES HOTELS CORPORATIONS, MR. RICHARD GRIFFITHS." Harry roared and towered over him with anger boiling in his eyes. After a second he orders, 

" Zayn, call all of the board members for an emergency meeting within an hour to vote out this guy. We're kicking him out today. " Harry said looking into Griffiths eyes without blinking for a second. Zayn nods his head and calls his assistant to let the all members know about the meeting, he was also fed up of the man. 

Griffiths was now even more angry than before and he rushes out of the room shutting the door with a bang after him. Harry watching his every movement standing still in front of Louis protectively. 

Harry closes his eyes for a few seconds to calm himself down and turns to Louis. 

"You okay?" Louis doesn't reacts to his question so he pronounces his name to get his attention.   
"Louis ?" 

Louis looks up at him with still some tears left in his eyes. 

"Are you okay?" he repeats his question. 

"You didn't need to do that, Mr. Styles. He's the CFO of this company whether I'm just a GSE." he says looking at him without any emotions. 

"It's not about what your job positions are , it's about respecting a person. No has the right to insult anyone like that, specially in our company, we don't need or want anyone like that." Harry looks at him with soft eyes. 

Louis was looking in his eyes when suddenly a tear rolled down his face. He wiped it off immediately and rushed out of the room after excusing himself. 

Harry was left staring at the space where a second ago Louis was standing, eyes filled with emotions. 

"Niall, please go and check on him and let me know if you need anything,okay." Zayn says and walks towards Harry and Niall rushes after Louis. 

"I think we should go too, I'll see tomorrow Mr. Styles. And by the way good decision." James says to Harry and was about to walk away when Grace holds back for a second and rushes to Harry and hugs his legs. 

Harry looks down at her and smiles before picking her up, 

" Thank you Mr. Curly for saving Mr. Blue Eyes. You are awesome. "and she kisses him on his cheek. Harry chuckles and asks, 

" You call him, Mr. Blue Eyes? "

" Well... have you seen his eyes, they are so beautiful. But right now they must be red because he is probably crying now. I think I'm going to talk to him again." she says making thinking face. 

"No Love, for now you need to go with your dad because Mr. Blue Eyes needs some time okay. You can talk to him tomorrow when he comes back to his shift, yeah." Harry suggests her. 

"mmmm okay, but I'm going to talk to him tomorrow and no one will stop me, promise ? " 

Harry laughs and kisses her while saying, "Promise, Miss Grace. Now off you go." and he hands her over to her father and they say goodbyes for the day. 

Harry turns around and walks to his desk to sit on it, his head sag down in thoughts. Zayn walks to him and sits beside him. 

"What happened, Harry?" Zayn asked without looking at him. 

"What do you mean?" he looks at him confused. 

"You know what I mean, I've never seen you like this before. Not even when you were with...... . What is it all about?" he looks into his eyes. 

Harry huffs and looks down , 

"He is the guy, Z." 

"what?" 

Harry looks at him and gives him the knowing look. 

"Wait a minute, is HE the guy whom you've been talking about all this time ; Louis ? He is Mr. Blue Eyes? " Zayn looks at him baffled. 

Harry looks at him for a second and again looking down smiling. 

"Wow..." 

"Yeah, wow." he sighs. 

"Well.... What are you gonna do now?"

"what do you mean?" 

"I mean, are going to talk to him about all of this, your feelings. " he says in excitement. 

"I don't have feelings for him, Z. It's just something about those eyes that attracts me towards him, like gravity . " he says getting up from the desk. 

"Yeah, like feelings......" 

"No you, Idiot they are not feelings. And I'm not going to let that happen again to myself." he looks at him with blank expressions. 

"Not everyone is like him, Harry. Give yourself another chance." 

"Enough Z. I've told you before and I'm telling you this again, I'm not going to fall for anyone again and that's final." 

Harry looks at him sad and Zayn apologize with a hug. 

"Now lets check on those Ogres, where are they. And could you, maybe...." Harry trails off. 

"Yeah-yeah I will check on Louis. You tosser." he pushes him away and takes out his mobile. 

"Asshole" Harry laughs. 

After few minutes of talking on phone with his assistant and Niall he told Harry that almost every one is coming to the meeting except for 2 members which were out of the city but were available on the video conference. 

He also explained that Louis was okay and Niall was driving him home. After that they waited there for all the members to get there and let the meeting start. 

\- - - - - - - - - - -

Louis was quiet all the time from leaving the room to get changed. When Niall reached out to him, he just gave him a little smile to know that he was okay. Niall offered him a ride and without arguing with him, Louis said yes to the offer. 

During the ride he kept his silence intact, but Niall has no issues with that, he could understand what he was going through. 

When Niall reached to dropped him at his building, he asked to him, both were still sitting in the car. 

"Lou, you're okay right."

"Yeah." he looks at his hands that were placed in his lap. 

"Listen it's okay if you don't want to come to the shift tomorrow, I'll talk to Zayn about it." 

"No, I'm fine. And thanks Ni for the ride." he looks at him with a watery smile. 

Niall smiles at him and hugs him saying,

"Don't you worry about a thing, we are all like a family here at the Regency. And if anyone tries to hurt any of us, we'll always be there to defend. Okay." 

Louis couldn't utter a single word and just gives him a curt nod with a small smile before he hops out of the car. 

As soon as Louis walks into his flat and closes the door, he breaks into tears. He slid down on the floor and started weeping holding his legs close to his chest. 

His whole body was shaking like a leaf in the wind. The muffled sounds of his sobs were still loud enough to be heard, even though he was biting on his arm to lower them. His eyes were now blood shot red and it was definite that they were going to swell after this much of crying . 

He couldn't get all of those hateful words out of his mind that were said to him in the day. 

He wanted someone to hold him close, he needed someone to be with him at the moment, to tell him that everything was okay. 

But most of all, he was craving for someone specific, someone who has the most beautiful and heart warming green eyes he has ever seen. He wanted to look at them again, because that is only when he feels himself secure. 

Louis' wailing slowly lighten up when he starts remembering those eyes looking into his own. It was like a magic that he couldn't understand, the way he was addicted to those eyes. He could find his calm in them even if he was having a really bad day. 

He was still sniffling a bit when his phone started ringing. He didn't realized it but he was crying for almost 30 minutes now. He looked at the number but he couldn't recognize it so he just ignored it for the times sake. But when again his phone starts ringing and the same number pops in, he picks up the call. 

"Hello" he says groggily. 

"Louis." he recognized the voice as Mr. Styles and sits up surprised. 

"H-hello." 

"You, okay." Harry was sitting in his office on sofa with his eyes close. He was imagining his beautiful eyes. 

Louis clutched his eyes shut and tears again starts falling from his eyes. He covered his mouth with his hand to lower his sobs. All he wanted to do at the moment was to run to Harry and hug him. And Harry kept talking to him until he cries in his arms. 

"Louis, are you crying, you okay ?" Harry asked in worry, a tear rolled down from his own eyes without any reason surprising him. 

"I'm not crying. I - I'm alright ." he put tilted his head back on the wall and whispered. Even a crazy person could tell that he was not. Not at all. 

"I know you're not and it's okay. Please don't mind anything what he said. He is an asshole and he got what he deserved . You don't have to make yourself feel bad or suffer for his crap. You know you are better than that. " he was soft talking to him. 

Louis could literally feel Harry sitting beside him. With still closed eyes and legs hugging his chest he said . "What do you mean by, he got what he deserved, Mr. Styles." he couldn't call him Harry. He just couldn't. 

" He no longer an employee of this company. The board has voted him out." he said opening his eyes and looking at the file that was still in his lap from when he came back from the meeting. 

" Why did you do that, you can't do that to him Mr. Styles. He is the CFO of....... "he got interrupted. 

" Do I need to remind you too......, this is my parent's company and I'm the CEO. " he chuckles. 

" umm sorry Mr. Styles but it was not that big of a deal that you have to fire him . " he says wiping his face. He wasn't crying anymore. 

"It is. No one can behave like that with you....... Or anyone else in this company. We respect everyone here, no matter if the person is a doorman or a guest. It's what Styles corporations about." he says with his eyebrows frowned in annoyance. How could Louis say that, it was not a big deal. 

" Sorry, Mr. Styles." he was blushing without even knowing it. 

" Stop saying sorry and answer me. Are you alright? "

" uuu yes, I'm better now. Thanks. "

"Good, now would you be able to come back tomorrow or you need a day off. Because it's okay if you need one." he asks in concern. 

"I'll be back at the shift tomorrow morning, Mr. Styles." 

"You sure." 

"Yes." 

"Alright then, you take care of yourself and I'll see you tomorrow, yeah." he says smiling to himself. 

He nods to himself and says, 

"Mr. Styles." 

"Yes, Mr. Tomlinson." 

"Thank You." 

"for what?" 

"For everything that you did today. No one ever did that for me before." 

"Well from now on you don't have to worry about that." 

"Why?" 

"I Will Look After You."


	4. Cheeku. Bear. Pumpkin.

( July 2017, London)   
. 

Previously... 

"Well from now on you don't have to worry about that." 

"Why?" 

"I Will Look After You." 

*****

Harry was staring at his phone that was still in his hands. He hung up the call as soon as the words came out of his mouth. And now he was debating with himself.... 

'Why did I say that?' 

' Because that is the truth, you will always look after him and don't you even dare to deny that.' 

'But I already made up my mind that I will never care for anyone else, than why ?' 

'Because that is in your heart.'

'Why my lips never stopped for a second to voice out what was in my heart ? '

' No one can control your lips when it comes to your heart, Harry and you know that.' 

' Yeah. But.....' 

His internal debate got interrupted when his phone started to ring again. He focused his sight on the screen and a smile appeared on his lips, when he realized who it was. 

"Hey mate" Harry picked up the call. 

"HEY .....! " The person seems to be really excited. 

Harry laughs at the person's cheering and says, 

"What's gotten into you? You alright there or are you high or something like that, Hmmm? 

" Oi.... I'm perfectly fine and that happened only once, when my boyfriend made me to do that, because HIS girlfriend wanted to see me high. So no more recalls of the day, my head starts spinning whenever I think about it ." 

Harry laughed even more thinking back to what happened that day. Those were the best times. Harry smiles remembering the happy times he used to spend with his friends and family. 

" I miss you, Li, I really do. " he said emotionally. 

" Haz.... What's wrong Love? " 

" Nothing..." 

"Don't lie to me. I know you very well Harry , we are cousins, who also grew up together under one roof, if you forget about the little fact."

" Yeah...... You're right." he sighs out and covers his face with one hand. 

"Tell me." he encouraged him 

"It's a long story Liam and you're probably busy now with all the work." he tried to avoid. 

"I'm always free for my Haz, now tell me what's wrong. I'm all ears. Tell me everything." 

"Okay...... if you say so." Harry looks around in the room while he thinks about everything and starts telling him story from the day he first met Louis in Pizza Hut. 

He explained him everything, how he met him on the train station and than the incidence. He told him about "the kind of feelings" he has for the boy. Specifically how he said the last line before he disconnected the call. 

Liam was listening to everything really peacefully and was observing each and every emotion he could via phone call, to understand how his brother/best friend was feeling. When Harry stopped talking, he gave it a few seconds before he said the thing Harry never expected ,

" You like him." 

"What ?" 

" I said, You like him. And I'm not saying that you like him as in love him, but that's not a friendly way either." 

"You know that's not true Liam. I am not going to do what I did before." 

"Harry I've known you since the day you were born, I'm 5 months older than you if you remember. I've seen you in every state of mind and that's why I'm saying this. It's not a bad thing to feel something for someone. 

And when it comes to HIM, you know that wasn't your fault. It was him who did the monstrosity. "  

" Still Li, it was me who loved him blindly. Even when you and Z tried to warn me, I lashed out on you guys instead of checking out the truth about him. I don't want that to happen with me again. " 

" Listen to me Harry, what happened in the past, is in the past. You are not going to let that horrible person ruin your life anymore. He is living his life happily without giving a fuck about how you are doing in life. So please stop living in the past and start praising your present and upcoming future. 

Louis seems like a good person as you described him, so I'm requesting you to give yourself another chance. Please. "

" I'm scared, Liam. "  Harry says in small voice. 

" Hey it's okay.... Take baby steps... No need to rush... Your heart is still heeling from the wounds you've gotten three years ago. You will be able to love again, I promise. " Liam tried to cheer him up. 

" Thanks Brother, for being there for me. You, and Z are the only ones who know the real me. He says the same as you do about Louis by the way. "  Harry smiles looking down. 

" Shut up you idiot. All we want is to see you happy again like you used to. Before that asshole came into the picture." the last line Liam grunts in anger. 

"You two really hate him, don't you?" Harry chuckled. 

" oh no, not that much but just that, once we planned to murder that bastard. So yeah not that much." and they both laughed. 

" All right now, you're okay though right? I mean emotionally or do you want to talk more about it?" 

"No, I'm okay now. Feeling much better. Thanks again, I needed that." 

"That is good. By the way where is my boyfriend ?" he says excited. 

"Oh, he probably be busy with the arrangements for tomorrow's rehearsal dinner and the wedding after tomorrow." 

"And her girlfriend, sorry my girlfriend." Harry laughed at hearing that along with Liam. 

" Same applies to her but I'll let them know that you called." 

"Thanks man.... God I miss you guys...." he huffed in disappointment. 

" We do too." Harry smiles sadly. 

"Allright now I have to gotta go. Will talk to you tomorrow maybe, yeah." 

"Sure, bye Li. Love you." 

"Love you too Haz." 

And he was again in the same position as before, staring at his phone but now the thoughts were different. 

He truly do misses him and all the time he used to spend with him in America . 

"Hey, why are you still here ?" Zayn says standing next to him. 

Wait, when did he come ? 

"When did you come ?" Harry voices out his thoughts and gets up from the sofa. 

" I was just going home and saw your office's lights on so I came in." he explained. 

" Was talking to your boyfriend, he says he misses your girlfriend." he said smiling and start arranging his files. 

"What..... Why didn't you tell me, I wanted to talk to him....." he whined dramatically going next to him. 

"You own a working phone as well Malik." he wasn't looking at him but arranging his desk. 

" thanks for the observation but as you know, my girlfriend wouldn't let me talk to him, so I have to talk to him secretly." Zayn rolls his eyes. 

" What, Why ?" Harry turned to him in confusion. 

"urghhhhh don't ask. Whenever I try to talk to him, she snatches my phone away and starts gossiping with him about me ; IN FRONT OF ME . It's like they are the BFFs who talk about their crushes with each other. God.... They are so annoying together." and he was excessing each and every limit of being drama queen. Harry laughed out loud at his actions. 

" Stop laughing. I would love to see YOU suffering from the exact same thing when Louis starts doing that with me in a while, and trust me I'm going to roast you in front of him. " Zayn jokes, but he stops smiling when he sees Harry's controlled face expressions. 

" Sorry. " he apologises . 

" It's alright. " he shakes his head and gives him a smile. 

" So... Did you talk to him ? I mean you asked for his number.... " Zayn asked hesitantly. 

" Yeah, I did." Harry says facing away from him, now packing his laptop bag . 

"Wanna share .....?"  Zayn dared curiously. 

" Walk and talk ?"  Harry turned around and gave him a genuine smile. 

" And suddenly I love walking and talking....." Zayn got excited about it and they both started laughing before walking out of the office and locking it behind. 

\------------------

(Next Day) 

Harry and Zayn walked in together into the Residency. Harry was nervous about the fact that he has to face Louis after what he said to him on the phone. Even though Zayn tried to convince him that it was not a big deal, Harry was a mess inside his head. 

As soon as they reached to the front desk, Harry started to search for a particular face everywhere in anticipation. His mind was telling him that Louis was not coming in today and that was........

" Morning Bosses !" Niall greeted them before Harry could think about it any more. 

" Morning Niall " Harry 

" Good Morning, Niall." Zayn 

Harry looks at Zayn and gives him a pleading look. Zayn just rolls his eyes and shakes his head at Harry's stupid nervousness. 

" Hey Ni, is Louis arrived yet, or is he taking a day off ?"  he asked casually. 

" Yes he is already here. Just went to help a guest with something, why ? " he looked up at them, from the computer screen. 

" Was just wondering if he was doing okay, after yesterday I mean. How is he? " he was still casual but Harry was a whole another thing, with his biting his nails in nervousness. 

Geez Harry, stop that. 

" He likes to show everyone that he is doing 'ABSOLUTELY FINE' , but you will know by yourself when you will look at him............ Geez Harry, stop that." he replied and see, I told you, Harry to stop that. 

" What's that supposed to mean? " Harry says now that his teeth were free from biting his nails.

Niall looks behind them and says.   
" Turn around?" 

" What ? " 

" He's coming to us, turn around. "

Both of them turns around and yes there he was coming towards them fixing his hair and...... Wait a minute, is he wearing glasses ? 

When Louis looks up he found himself looking into the same green eyes, he was yearning from yesterday. His steps halted on the spot and his heartbeat raises as he started to walk forward. 

Harry looks at him and couldn't get his eyes off of him. He was looking really cute in those glasses, but what was Niall talking about him being not fine. 

When Louis reached to them he gave his best smile while greeting them. 

" Good morning Mr. Styles. Good morning , Zayn." 

And that's when Harry realized what Niall was talking about. Even though Louis' face was beaming because of the fake smile he was wearing, but his eyes were telling the story how much he cried ; even though he was trying to hide it behind those cute glasses. 

"Morning Lou." Zayn 

" Good Morning, Louis." Harry 

Louis smiles at them and walks towards the front desk, avoiding any eye contact with Harry. 

" How are you doing, Louis, you okay ?" Zayn asked carefully. 

" I'm absolutely fine, don't worry about it." Louis answered with a small smile. 

Niall looks at Harry and Zayn and gives them the look of 'I told you'. 

" And thanks for everything you did for me yesterday, Zayn, Mr. Styles. Thank you so much." he looks up and says looking into their eyes. 

" You don't have to thank us for anything, Louis. You don't deserve what he put you through." Harry said looking into his eyes with assurance. 

" Still, Thank you Mr. Styles. " 

" Call me, Harry . " Harry says giving him a smile. 

Louis didn't expected that, he looked into his eyes for a few seconds just to make sure what he heard was right . 

He wanted to address Harry by his name, but the fact was that it seemed really personal to him to call his boss by their first name ; specially when you're not sure what you feel about them. 

And their was another reason that he didn't want to mention right now. 

" I'm sorry sir but It's better as that. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with calling you by your first name, Mr. Styles." Louis denied respectfully. 

Harry was about to ask, why was he feeling uncomfortable to call him by his name while he calls Zayn and Perrie by their names , but right at the moment Grace came running to them and hugged Louis' legs ; James trailing behind her obviously. 

' Thank you so much, Grace. ' Louis thought in his mind. 

" Louis.... I came back...." she giggled when Louis looked at her and picked her up in his arms, James greeted others meanwhile. 

Even though Harry was showing that he was talking to James and Zayn but his eyes were constantly on the two cuties in front of his eyes ; Grace and Louis. Harry was smiling in fond to witness their little conversation, he was feeling a bit relieved to see Louis smiling and laughing for real. 

" Morning Louis, You okay? " James asked to Louis after talking about the wedding with Harry and Zayn. 

" Good Morning Mr. Corden and yes I'm good. " Louis nods and shifts Grace from one hand to other. 

" Good, and Gracy it's time for you to go back to your mum, Love." James smiled and requested her. 

"But Daddy....."

"No buts, you've already sneaked out so many times to check on him since he came. And see he's doing well and he has work too. So please go back to your Mum and Aunt, Love." James used his parent voice, and others could easily intercept that was more of a order than request. 

"Allright....." she pouts sadly and moves into his father's arms, but not before kissing Louis good bye and promise to come back soon again. All of them smiled at her cuteness and with that, Daddy and Daughter duo walked away. 

Harry was about to say something but again he got interrupted by a Loud greeting. 

' C'mon man......' Harry whines in his thoughts. 

" Good Morning, Everyone ! Hey Love !" Perrie Edwards. 

She gave everyone her beautiful smile and hugged Zayn. As soon as she opened her eyes after hugging him, she saw who was behind him and exclaimed. 

" Oh my God, Lou."

she pushed Zayn away from the way to get to the guy behind him and hugged a surprised Louis tightly. Zayn rolled his eyes and stood behind them crossing his arms looking a bit offended ; fake obviously. Harry and Niall laughed at his face. 

Perrie heard about Griffiths from some of the coworkers and asked Zayn about it. Zayn explained everything to her, except for the Harry likes him part. 

"Hey Perrie, Morning." Louis said a bit taken aback but still returned the hug with smile. 

" You look so cute with these glasses on. You should wear them often. Isn't he looking cute Z, Niall. And Harry what do you think?" she was avoiding the topic to not make him uncomfortable right now, and asked everyone nonchalantly. 

Harry was again fonding over his glasses and his cute nose, when Zayn nudged him. Zayn gave him the idiotic smirk that says ' I know what you're doing.' . Harry looks at him and felt warmth running through his face, he cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. His face was like a cherry.

" Excuse me, but I need to go now. Have a nice day everyone." Harry look at Louis for a moment in the eyes but he looked away to Perrie. 

" Anyways.... Lou, I wanna show you something that I planned for the wedding decoration. Let me know your thoughts about it. Come with me, will you ? " Perrie said, but to be honest, she was going to talk to him about what happened yesterday and if he was feeling better, without making it awkward in front everyone. 

Louis looked from Perrie to Zayn and Harry to ask for their permission ; he has to ask his bosses. 

" Go ahead, but you're staying till the rehearsal dinner starts, remember." Zayn reminds him of the schedule. 

" Yes, I do." Louis nods. 

"And tomorrow, You two are coming in the afternoon and staying the night here, because you two are the one hosting guests for the wedding." Harry mentioned this time. Yupp he was still there, even after excusing himself. 

"Yes we know." Louis and Niall both nodded and Niall confirmed. 

"Good, now you may go." Harry said giving him a smile. 

Louis and Perrie walked away but ofcourse Louis turned to look at him when he was about to turn around the corner. His eyes caught a glimpse of beautiful green ones looking at him, before he they vanished behind the wall.  

And finally Harry excuses again himself before he walks away leaving Zayn and Niall behind to talk about the rehearsal dinner arrangements. 

\-----

Harry was reading the file he just opened, when Zayn knocked on the door and came inside, without even waiting for Harry's permission. 

THEY. ARE. FRIENDS. So no need of permission. 

"What was that ? " Zayn asked straight away,  amused at what he caught Harry doing a few minutes ago. 

"What ?"  Harry huffed without looking up, he knew exactly what. 

" You know exactly, What." Zayn said and plopped on the seat in front of him across the desk. 

" Z, either you say the thing or spare me some time to do my work." Harry looked up at him for a second, before he went back to the file. 

" You were fonding over his smile." he stated more than questioning. 

"I - I was not." Harry bit his tongue for stuttering in hesitation and kept his sight low on the file. He was done with the file already by the way. 

" You hesitated." 

"No, I did not." 

" Yes, you did." 

" Zayn....." 

" Harry...." 

All the argument took place, Zayn staring at Harry and Harry staring at the file but after that, they both looked at each other for 5 seconds before Harry started "working" again on his "file". 

" O c'mon man..... Think about what Liam said. Give your heart another chance." Zayn said feeling a bit annoyed by his behavior. 

" Enough Z, I have work and so do you. So please stop wasting both of our time." he said and looked away, "And Liam isn't here to know what really is going on. So please, just don't." 

Harry was suddenly feeling a bit emotional, "Even though I fucking miss him, I can't ask him to come here just because I am confused about some things. So please Z try to understand. " He said before looking back at the desk and started shuffling files ; he was trying to distract his mind. 

" Allright, I'm sorry. And by the way, I miss CHEEKU too." Zayn said pouting and folded his hands, looking down at his lap. He was looking like a kid, who has been told that their trip to Disney World, just got cancelled. 

Harry looks at him and shakes his head in fond at his child like behaviour. He gets up from his chair, goes to him smiling. He pulls him up to stand on his feet and hugs him ; Zayn's hands were still folded. 

" It's okay, we've got each other, right. " Harry says and rubs his back to sooth him. 

Zayn nods in his neck, nuzzling close and wraps his arms around him. He sighs out at feeling content. 

" But I miss that stupid puppy." he hugs him even more tightly. 

" arghhhhhh Tell me about it. " Harry grunts in sadness. 

Zayn suddenly pulls away from the hug and says to confuse Harry, 

" Allright, I need to go before I start crying about it. God.... you are bad for my health." and they both start laughing at their stupid emotions for their bestfriend. 

" I'll see you later, BEAR ." Harry says giving Zayn a quick hug. 

"And I'll see you soon, PUMPKIN ." Zayn says patting his arms and walks out of the room. Harry smiles at himself and walks back to his desk to continue his work, but this time in real. 

\-----

(Later in the afternoon) 

" Hey Ni, could you please go and get these papers signed by Mr. Styles." Louis asked Niall when he saw him coming towards the front desk. 

"Call him Harry, Lou, he said it himself. But sorry, I can't help you with that because I'm going to the airport." Niall says and starts going through some papers. 

" What, why to the airport ?" Louis asks completely avoiding what Niall just said about Harry. 

" There are two guests coming to the wedding today, they were invited recently, and Mr. Corden asked me specially to pick them up from airport. " he explained and looked ready to go. 

" Oh okay... I'll see you then." he said in a small voice. 

"Bye." Niall walked out of the Residency. 

Louis collects all the papers and assorts them in a file, while giving himself a really stupid peptalk. 

' You can do this Tommo. He is just your Boss. He said nothing remotely like what you think he did, so just shut up and move forward. ' 

He closes his eyes for a second and takes a deep breath, holding the file tightly in his arms. After a few seconds he opens his ocean blues and breathes out before walking to the elevator. 

\-----

" Mate c'mon..... James asked you personally and it's a really lavish and modern wedding. At least try something different."  Zayn was trying to make him agree to wear the suit he chose to wear for the wedding party next day. 

" I told you Z, I'm going to wear traditional black & white and it's not like it's my wedding. So stop bugging me about it." he was starting to feel a headache, after bickering with him from last half an hour. 

" No you're not going to wear some black & white, you're going to wear the exact same suit I chose for you. That suit is literally made for you. " Zayn whined at his friend's stubbornness. 

" Zayn you know I left wearing those kinds of clothes long ago. " he said looking at him seriously. 

" I know and I'm not saying anything about it. But this suit is different, not like you used to wear, okay maybe the colour is but still....."

" Zayn, why are you doing this to me. Ever since yesterday, you keep arguing with me about anything and everything, why ? Did I do something to you, cause if I did than please forgive me cause I don't remember anything, but please spare me. " he was running out of his patience. 

" Fuck you Styles, I hate you. I'm going to ask someone else and I'm sure you will definitely say yes to them. " the outburst was quite unexpected. 

Zayn walked towards the door but he was stopped by his friend, just as he touched the door knob. 

" What...., Who ? " Harry asked confused. 

" Lou. " he said flatly looking away. 

" No you will not." his eyes were about to bulge out of their sockets. 

" Yes I will." he turned around looking at him mischievously. 

" Zayn... "

" Harry..."

" Come. Back. Here. Now. " Harry said with his serious voice but Zayn wasn't having any of it. 

" Bye Harry." he said and was about to open the door when someone knocked from the other side of the door.  

When Zayn opened the door, his face lit up like a Christmas tree. 

" HI LOUIS !" he exclaimed happily, emphasising the word 'Louis' more loudly to get someone's attention. Harry's eyes went wide in horror. 

" umm Hi ? Is everything okay ?"  Louis looked at him in confusion at the sudden loud greeting. 

" Oh yeah everything is definitely fine. I was just coming to see you actually, I needed to ask your opinion on something ." he said smiling really sweetly to him, while ushering him inside. 

" My opinion... on what ?" Louis takes a seat across the desk from Harry. When he looks at him curiously, Harry quickly looks down and starts doing his "work" again. 

" I believe you have a great sense of fashion as I know and Perrie also told me like thousands of times, so would please help me choose a suit for a wedding party ; it's not for me by the way, it's for my friend . " Zayn explains and takes a seat next to him, avoiding the death glares he was getting from Harry. 

" All right but would you just give me a minute because I came here to get Mr. Styles' signatures on these papers. " Louis looked from him to Harry. 

" Here, give them to me. And you don't have to help him with this if you are busy. He is an idiot so if you have to, you can continue your shift. " Harry says giving him a innocent smile. 

Louis was feeling like a lost puppy looking between the two. 

" Shut up Harry, I know him before you do so he is going to listen to me and help me, wouldn't you Lou." Zayn gives Louis a creepy smile. 

But that just makes him even more lost, when he thinks about how he knows Harry before Zayn. He looks at Harry with a look that can count as pleading. 

" Just.... do whatever he asks." Harry says giving him a nod and looks down to start signing the papers. 

" So Louis, here in these slides I have put some of the best suits of this spring - summer collection. Now YOU tell me which one is the best for a wedding party and don't hesitate about expressing your thoughts. 

Just so you know, I have already chosen a suit and saved its photo in the laptop but the person I'm choosing this suit is for says, it's not nice and wants to choose some random black and white ones . " Zayn says the word "Person" a bit louder than the others. 

Harry rolls his eyes, still looking down at the file and signing the papers. 

" uuuu ok. " Louis hesitantly turns the laptop to him and starts checking out the suits one by one. 

All the time while Louis was focusing on the suits on the screen, Harry was peeking at him secretly. He was admiring the different expressions Louis was giving out while criticising the suits. He was tilting his head from left to right like a cute kitten as well. 

But ofcourse Zayn was well aware of his actions, but he was keeping himself quiet to see the thing that was going on in front of his eyes. It was like a free live entertainment. 

" I've seen all of them and honestly, I think all these suits are quite amazing. When it comes to fashion, most of them are typical stereotypes but there are some unique ones that I liked. Specifically this one, I think this is really different from the others, the color and style everything. And it's a Givenchy , so the name says itself." Louis explained nonchalantly to one of his bosses and looked at him for their reply. 

" Thank you, Louis and that's a really great suit you chose there . Now would you please go to the desktop screen and see which suit I have saved there. " Zayn said looking from Louis to Harry and gave him a wink, at which Harry just rolled his eyes. 

" okay, wait a sec......."

Louis goes to the desktop screen and after clicking on the last saved photo, his eyes widened in surprise. 

" Oh my God, you've chosen the same suit." he exclaimed smiling big. 

Harry's eyes widened in shock but he was still looking down to act normal. 

" Well.... Great minds think alike." and they both start laughing. 

" You should pester your friend more, because I'm sure this suit will look great on him. " Louis advised without a clue that the person he was talking about was sitting across the desk from him. 

" Thanks Lou for your help." Zayn says. 

" It's alright but can I ask who is this friend of yours who rejected this suit. I mean seriously that person definitely has a really boring taste in clothes if he chose other suits instead of this one. " Louis joked and Harry's eyes were definitely gonna pop out of their sockets at any moment, if he kept bulging them out like this. 

" Tell me about it, I mean seriously this suit is fantastic. It's just that my friend sometimes acts like a idiot. 

By the way, he is coming to the wedding tomorrow here, so you can meet him then ." Zayn says in amusement, looking at Harry from the corner of his eyes. If looks could kill, Zayn would have been dead the moment he asked Louis for his opinion. 

"Don't say that about them." Louis says smiling " And was that all, or you need my help for something else ?" he inquired innocently. 

" Well I'm definitely going to need your help more from now on but Yeah, for now we're good. Thanks once again for the help." Zayn says looking at his best friend from the corner of his eyes. 

"No problem. Umm sir......" Louis gave him a smile and turned to Harry. 

" Huh.... Oh yeah..... I've signed them all but please look through once more to check if I've got all of them." Harry scrambled suddenly at Louis' attention and with shaking hands, he hand out the file. 

Louis checked all of the pages closely to see if any left to get signed, but there were none so he looked up at him and gave him a thankful smile. 

" They're all good, thank you Mr. Styles." 

Harry was about to object on the "Mr. Styles" term but when he recalled the moment from this morning, he put that thought aside. 

" It's better as that. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with calling you by your first name, Mr. Styles."

Harry just gave him a smile with a curt nod to let him know that it was ok. 

Louis stands up from the seat and after pushing it on the same position, he bids both of his bosses a nice day and walked out of the office. 

As soon as the door closes behind Louis, Zayn turns around to look at Harry and pulls the chair again to sit on, where Louis was sitting a few moments ago. He puts both of his elbows on the arms rests and tangles his fingers together. 

When Harry looks at him, he gives him the cheesiest smirk ever and wriggles his eyebrows at him. Harry just shakes his head and looks down, to his hide his smile . 

" Shut up."


	5. "I hate you. "

(July 2017, London)  
. 

Louis was at the front desk, working on computer. He was going through the guest list and important details about wedding guests' staying at the Regency. When he heard footsteps coming towards him, he looked up. It was Niall and seemed to be other two guests of the wedding walking beside him. But the closer he get to the front desk, the better Louis could detect that there was something wrong, because of the scowling on Niall's face. 

When the three get next to the front desk, that's when Louis noticed something and asked to his friend, 

" ermmm Niall, What happened to your shirt....?" 

But Niall just looked up at him with the same irritated expression and instead of answering Louis, he turned to the two guests standing behind him. 

" Mr. and Mrs. Brandner, this is Louis Tomlinson and he will be helping you with your arrangements at the Styles Regency." he said and tried to give them a smile and than he turned back to Louis. 

" And Louis this is Mrs. Julia Brandner and Mr. Arno Brandner. I hope you know really well what you need to do now." he gives him a fake creepy smile, after his highly unprofessional behaviour in front of two guests, who seems to be enjoying the scene looking pretty amused. 

Louis' eyes widened at his behaviour and he looks at the couple apologetically , 

" I'm really sorry Mr. and Mrs. Brandner for Mr. Horan's unacceptable behaviour. And let me assure you that it will never happen again. It's our policy to respect and treat our guests honorably. And there is no excuse for his unprofessional behaviour. I'm apologising to you both on behalf of him." 

he rambles out in one breath without giving them any chance to say anything. Niall was still standing there with amused expressions . 

" Young boy, are you done with your apologies for today, can I say something now? " Arno said crossing his arms and giving him a smile. 

" I'm - I'm sorry Sir. Yes please." he looks down, chewing his inner cheek nervously . 

" Niall here has done nothing wrong. He is a really good employee to this hotel and I hope he is a great co-worker as well." Arno looks at Louis, who gives him a nod when he looks up at Arno. 

" But Sir the way he behaved before wasn....."  before Louis could say anything, Julia interrupted him, 

" We know why he behaved the way he did before and trust me, if it were you in his place you would have acted the same way. And we don't mind at all." she gave him a sweet smile and then said to Niall. 

" Niall, you need to change that shirt of yours, if you are going to work more this evening. "

" Oh yeah, Thanks for reminding me about that. And I'm really sorry for my behavior, but you know what happened. It was just... Arghhhh..... I so wanted to kill that guy. " Niall said in distress and away to the lockers, to change his shirt. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bradner just laughed at his actions. Louis was still confused about everything what happened there. So when he was updating the guest list with the couple's information, he hesitantly asked to them. 

" Ummm Would you maybe tell me what happened that caused him to get this angry? Actually I've never seen him like this before, I'm not sure if he's going to tell me anything." 

Julia looks at Arno to ask if he wants to explain, but he smiled and gave her a nod and gestured to go ahead. 

" We all were coming out of the airport as Niall was escorting us to where the car was parked. That's when a guy came running towards us and crashed into Niall, causing both of them to fall down. But that was not just it, the guy was holding a orange juice take-out cup that got crushed between them and that's what the stain is on his shirt. "

Louis nods his head in understanding but he was still a bit confused. 

" Wow.... did he really got this much angry just because of that accident. I've never thought of him being this short tempered. " he wondered to himself. 

" Oh no, there is more to the story. As they both fell, the other boy was above him. But when Niall tried to get up, the guy didn't budge a bit. He was staring at Niall's face with big eyes as his face was splitting into a wide smile. And when Niall tried to push him back, he just held his hands and pinned them on the floor above his head, and tried to kiss him."

" What....? " Louis' eyes bulge out in shock. 

" Yes, but before he could do that, Arno pulled him off of him by the back of his collar and pushed him away. And as soon as Niall got up from the floor, he walked up to him and slapped him right across his cheek. But the funny thing was that he was still smiling like a fool at him, while rubbing his probably throbbing cheek." when Julia finished explaining, they all started to laugh, even Louis. 

" That wasn't funny, Mrs. Brandner. " Niall said coming back to the front desk. 

" Actually it was. " Arno said and they again laughed at Niall's pouty face. 

After that all of them talked for a while and Niall proposed as an apology to escort them to their room. 

\-----

Louis was helping a guest to check out from the Regency. When that guest walked away thanking Louis for their outstanding experience at the Regency, the guest standing behind them came forward and put his luggage next to his feet. 

" Good Evening Sir, welcome to the Styles Regency. How may I assist you ? " Louis wished to the guest in his professional tone and with a million dollar smile. 

" Ummm yeah Lo...uie." the person looks at Louis' name tag and reads it in amazement. He looks up at his face for few seconds, smiling big, which seems creepy to Louis, and continues. 

" I'm here to meet Mr. Styles. So would you maybe assist me with, what floor is his office at. But please don't inform him about me. I'm his cousin and it's a surprise for him." the person says cheerfully. 

Louis looks at him suspiciously. 

" I'm sorry, Sir but I won't be able to help you with that. It's private and I am not allowed to let anyone know about the information.  Let alone allow a stranger to his office is completely out of the question . 

But if you will let me ask Mr. Styles on the phone here and if he allows you to , only than I can assist you to his office. " he stated. 

" Try to understand, Louis, I'm his cousin, his elder brother. My name is Liam Payne, you might have heard of me before. And I don't want to ruin my surprise by letting him know about me being here, before hand. You know that's not how surprises works. Please Lou..... I know I'm being desperate here but trust me I'm not an intruder or any threat to him or anyone for that matters. Please.... pretty please... " Liam starts whining and put his phone and Ray Beans on desk to beg with both hands clasp together.

" I'm extremely sorry Sir but try to understand me as well. It's my job and...... "

Louis was politely trying to make him understand, when someone spoke from behind Liam. 

" Liam...., Is that You...? "

Liam and Louis both of their heads turned to the voice. 

" GRAYSON...... oh thank God you are here. Would you please let Mr. Louis here know that I'm Harry's cousin and not an intruder or a stranger to him. " Liam hugged the person breathing out in relief. 

Louis looks at Grayson to get any kind of explanation. 

" Yes, Louis. Liam is Harry's cousin, so it's okay. You don't have to worry about it. " Grayson confirmed. 

" I'm sorry Mr. Smith, I've never seen him before so I couldn't recognize him. And Mr. Payne, my apologies for the inconvenience that I have caused you. I'm extremely sorry, Sir." 

" Oh no, don't be. I know it wasn't anything personal. You were just doing your job and I appreciate that you wouldn't give up. I'm happy that Regency has good employees like you. But I need to rush now, I'm dying to meet Harry and Zerrie. " 

" ummm Zerrie..? " Louis asked in confusion. 

" Zayn and Perrie, you know their ship name."

"Oh." Louis smiled. As some guests come to the front desk, Louis excused himself and started attending them. 

" Grayson, would you please show me the way to Harry's office, if you are free ? " Liam asked as he made a way for the other guest at the front desk and pulled his luggage to his side. 

" Sure, come with me." 

Liam turned to Louis and said to him apologetically , "Thanks, Lou and sorry for making a fuss." 

" No problem Sir and have a great rest of the day." Louis gave him a genuine smile. 

" You too." 

With that Grayson and Liam walked away to the elevators. 

\-------

After a while, when Niall came back to the desk and noticed someone's phone and glasses, he asked Louis about them. 

" Hey Lou, who's are these...?" he showed Louis the phone and glasses. When Louis recognized them as Liam's glasses, he said. 

" oh, they must be Mr. Liam's. He is Mr. Styles' cousin. He came here to meet him a few minutes ago. Would you run to his office and give him these." Louis explained. 

" I'm sorry man but I'm gonna sit down for a while now. My head is still hurting due that incident, when it got hit on the floor. Please." Niall said giving him a pout and sat down on a chair behind the desk. 

" Are you okay, are you feeling any concussion ? Should I call a doctor or someone else to check on you ? " hearing that, Louis got worried about him and asked in concern. 

" No no. I'm not that much hurt either, but just don't want to walk for a while now. Until the painkillers start to work." he said and showed him the medicine wrapper that was in his pocket. 

" Okay then, you just sit here and I'll be back shortly."

" Allright but please try to come fast. "

" what, why...?" 

Niall moves forward on the chair and whispers to Louis, " I don't like to stay here with Brianna, alone for very long. She flirts too much and I'm really tired to avoid her, but to punch her maybe. So please, at least come fast for her sake." and they both start laughing. 

" Idiot." Louis shook head in fond and walked away. 

\-------

Harry was going through some files in his office, when there was a knock on the door. 

" Come in."

Grayson walked inside the room, leaving Liam hid behind the door. 

" Hey Harry, you busy ? "

" Grayson. No, not all. C'mon have a seat."

" That's okay, I just came to deliver your present. I'll be out of here in a minute." Grayson said to him, smirking. 

Harry's eyebrow frowning in confusion as he sat back in his chair. 

" Present ? What kind of ?" 

" Would you come inside please, Harry's present....?"  Grayson says after opening the door once again. 

Harry was looking at the door with curiosity but when Liam walked inside the room smiling big and Grayson walked out of the door excusing himself, Harry's eyes widened and not in a second took them to be filled with tears ; happy tears obviously. 

Liam moved forward to him as he said in his soft and doting voice ; his vision started to blurr because of the tears. 

" Hi, Baby Pumpkin !" 

Harry breath hitched hearing him, when he realized that he wasn't having a dream about him being there. He slowly got up from his chair, his eyes start spilling the warm liquid gathered in his eyes. At first his steps were slow and drowsy, but as soon as Liam spread out his arms for him, Harry scurried away to him in a flash and crashed into his arms.

"Liam..." he breath out his name as both of them nuzzled into each other's neck , locking each other in a tight grip with their hands. Shallow whimpers can be heard easily, as they were trying to control their overwhelming feelings.

Liam was first to breath out after finally getting the hold on him emotions, but Harry was no where near to let go off him and was still sobbing on his shoulder. Liam started to stroke his spine, up and down slowly to sooth him. 

" Hey hey.... Shushhhhh.... Enough Bubba. I'm here now, no need to overwhelm yourself. I'm right here with you." his hand was still working on his back as his other hand was massaging his scalp. 

After a minute or two, Harry finally calm down and pulled back from the hug, but his arms were still around him. 

" I-I missed you s-so fucking much. You can't even imagine how-how much I needed this hug. Thank you so much Cheeku. Thank you so fucking much." and he hugged him tightly again, closing his eyes, just breathing in his familiar scent. 

" Are you seriously sniffing me, H, that much you missed me....?" he  wondered in awe as he hugged him even closer. 

" Shut up. Don't make fun of me. I was sad okay. " Harry grumbled in his neck and Liam shook his head at his adorable habit of being clingy. Liam loved Harry as his own little brother , even though he was only 5 months older than him. 

" Harry we are going to need some of....... " 

Zayn suddenly walked into the room shuffling through some files in his hand, but when he saw Harry and the person he was hugging, he stopped talking and walking as well. 

It isn't really hard to know, who the person is even if you can't see their face, when you have known them for more than 17 years of your life . Zayn was standing there without a word coming from his mouth as he was feeling astonished by the fact that the person he was missing so much, was standing in front of him. 

" He is looking like an idiot." Harry chuckled in Liam's shoulder as he could see his face, before he let go of Liam. 

Liam, who somehow had a grip on his emotions, suddenly felt that grip started to lose as he turned around to face him. Liam looked into his eyes and gave him a week smile. Zayn blinked his eyes for a few times to clear his vision, tears rolled down his hazel eyes, lips trembling . The files suddenly started falling down from his grip, when the fact confirmed in his mind that it really was Liam. 

Liam started to make his way by waddling up to him, their eyes were locked with each other's . Zayn wasn't making a move or averting his eyes off of Liam, all the way until Liam was next to him.

Harry was just standing at his previous position, watching everything with a big smile and tears in his eyes. 

As soon as they both get face to face with each other, Liam lifted his right hand to wipe Zayn's cheek. Zayn closed his eyes and swatted his hand away, turning his face to the side . 

" I hate you." he whispered and brushed his tears away himself. 

Liam shook his head at his stubbornness and pulled him into his arms. Zayn tried to fight from his grip but Liam locked his arms around his back and held him still. 

" Let me go. I don't want to be near you. I hate you. Let me go you a$$hole." he kept trying to push him away, but Liam wasn't having any problems with it, as his grip was still tight around him. 

Harry started to laugh watching Zayn struggling in Liam's arms and put his hand over his mouth to muffle it, when Zayn gave him his death glare. 

" Better stop your laugh, before I break all of your teeth out, Styles ." 

And that caused Liam and Harry both laugh out loud. 

" Shut up, you groggy Bear and I'm sorry okay." Liam smiled into his neck. 

" Let go of me, you lying fu¢king a$$hole. You said you cannot come because you were really busy, when I asked you last night. Then how come your a$$ showed up here today." Zayn started hitting and pushing on his shoulder. He was still crying. 

" I'm sorry baby, I was just trying to surprise you all. I promise, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. You know how much I love you." Liam muffled into his neck but suddenly he heard someone clearing their throat to get attention. When he realized who it was, he rolled his eyes and said. 

" And I love you too Harry."

" Just wanted to remind you the little detail, that's all."

" Idiot." Ziam said in unison. 

" Do you think you can forgive me, my polar bear...?" Liam asked shyly. 

" I don't want to." 

Liam huffed in annoyance and closed his eyes as he slowly rocked both of them side to side, thinking about any ideas. His eyes opened when the best idea came into his mind. 

" Mujhi maaf karaado." ( forgive me) he tried to coax his forgiveness out of him, by pulling the language card. He knew that whenever he speaks in Hindi, Zayn melts. 

Zayn smiled into his neck, " It's 'Mujhe maaf kardo' you idiot." he chuckled at his cute attempt to speak Hindi and finally wrapped his arms around him to hug him as tight as he could. 

" Yayyyyy....." Liam and Harry exclaimed happily at that.

After a few moments watching that happening in front of his eyes and being unable to control himself, Harry rushed to them and hugged them as well.  Finally all the three were together at one place, same time, hugging each other, after more than a year. 

Yes, it has been more than a year since they have met Liam and that was the reason behind all of their heartwarming get together. Not even on any of their birthdays, they were together. The last time they were like this was, when it was Harry's birthday in February , when they all were together till a day after Valentine's day. Since then, neither Zayn and Harry could make it to New York nor Liam to London, due to the business responsibilities. But now they were together. 

Pulling out from the group hug, all three rest their heads against each other's and laughed, looking down. 

" This feels so good man...... Being together again." Liam says. 

" I hope we can have more days like this." Harry wondered hopefully . 

" How long are you going to stay here, Cheeku...?" Zayn asked. 

" Maybe a week or so. I just wanted to spend some quality time with you guys and maybe get to know someone specific a little more." Liam said and looked at Harry while saying the ending part. 

They all lift up their heads and look at each other in the eyes, smiling like a bunch of fools. 

" oh so you met someone huh...... What does he look like..? " Harry tried to avoid, what Liam was trying to do, there. 

" Well he is a really beautiful person, If I must say, inside and out. He has the most beautiful blue eyes I've ever seen. His face reflects the sun whenever he looks at you. He has the most soft and adorable face, I bet his cheeks would be soft as silk, if I could get a chance to touch them. And his lips, oh Harry...... His lips are so pink and kissable that I just want to...... " Liam's speech got abruptly interrupted when a hand slaps on his mouth. 

" That's enough of you being disgusting. How could talk about Louis, like that. "

Harry Styles. 

" Who said I was talking about, Louis." Liam said innocently. 

" oh yeah, you didn't even seen him yet, sorry." Harry apologized when he realized that Liam has no idea about what Louis looks like . 

"Wait a minute, so that means you've really met someone. Oh my God seriously....?" Zayn beamed in happiness. But before Liam could answer the question, someone knocked on the door. 

Without untangling each other from the still going group hug/huddle, Zayn gave the permissionthem to enter. But what they didn't except for, was the person to be Louis himself. As soon as Louis walked inside and saw them standing like this, he looked away, not even knowing why. 

Maybe to give them privacy ?????? 

When Harry looked into his eyes and noticed it was Louis, he suddenly pulled out of the hug wiping his eyes, causing other two to push away. But Louis already noticed his red and watery eyes. 

" Hey, what the heck, Pumpkin Pie. What are you....... Oh hey Lou !" Liam was shocked at first when Harry did that but when he followed his eyes and noticed Louis' presence in the room, he chirped happily to him. 

" Hello Mr. Payne, seems like you left your phone and glasses at the front desk in a rush , so here they are. " Louis gives him a smile as he hands over the accessories to Liam and starts to walk out of the room. But before he could take even a few steps to the door, Liam said to him. 

" Louis wait."

" Yes sir. "

" First of all, please don't call me Sir or Mr. Payne or something else weird like that. Just call me, Liam or Li, whatever suits you." 

" But sir you're...." 

" Neither I am your boss nor a guest at the Regency so you have to address me by any professional names. I'm just a random person, who came here to meet his brother and now is talking to you, as we did earlier at the desk. So please." 

" umm okay.... Liam." 

" That's like a good person, so now let's reintroduce ourselves. Hi, I'm Liam Payne. " Liam gave him a big smile and held out his hand to him. 

Louis smiled at his friendly behavior and shook his hand. 

" Hello, I'm Louis Tomlinson. It's really nice to meet you. "

" Thank God, the feelings are mutual. " Liam jokes and they both laugh. 

" Erm.... excuse me. But when did you two meet...?" Harry asked in confusion. Both him and Zayn were confused by Louis and Liam's interaction. 

" We met at the front desk a few minutes ago and had a little chat, right Lou...." 

Liam said and threw his arms around Louis shoulder nonchalantly. Which felt a bit odd to Louis but he did not say anything, as he haven't done anything wrong so far and was his boss's brother. 

But the purpose behind the act what Liam did was seemed to be full filled, when Harry eyed Liam's arm around Louis' shoulder and he got a bit jealous of him ; Liam smirked at him wriggling his eyebrows. Zayn shook his head in fond after noticing what was going on, and he excused himself to go and sit on the chair. 

" Hey Zayn, would you call Perrie and ask her to come here. But don't tell her about me. And until she gets here we are going to get to know each other, right Lou. " Liam says to Louis and starts walking towards the couch with his arms still on his shoulders. 

" All right. " Zayn says and takes out his phone to make the call. 

" Actually I need to get back to the desk. " Louis said after taking a few steps ahead but stopping them both before the couch. 

" oh c'mon Louis, just for a few minutes." Liam insisted. 

But before Louis could say anything, Harry advanced to them from behind and pulled Liam's arm around Louis' shoulder, " Sorry, Louis but Liam is going to sit on my chair." he declared and dragged Liam to his own chair across the table and made him sit on it,  giving him a stern look. Liam winked at him . 

Louis was shocked but thankful for this sudden action, to Harry. 

" Louis, you are free to go and do your job. And I'm sorry for Liam's behaviour." Harry said looking at him in the eyes. 

" It's okay, Sir." Louis gives him a smile and turns around to leave but someone stops him again, this time it was Zayn. 

" Hey Lou, could you mail me the inventory report of this month, up till now. I need to check on something." 

" Sure, but if it's okay, l send them to you in an hour...? I was working on the wedding details and it's important. " Louis requests. 

" Yeah, no problem at......... " Zayn couldn't complete his sentence, before the office door open and in came Perrie, looking at her phone. 

" Hey Zayn, what was that you needed me so urgent for ? " she was still typing on her phone, wasn't looking up. 

" Hey, there girlfriend ! " Liam said cheekily and stood up from the chair. 

Perrie's fingers stopped moving on the phone and her eyes and mouth widened. She really slowly lifted her head up and her face lit up like sun. She squealed in utter happiness and ran towards him. 

" LIAM...........! "

Liam laughed out loud at her joy and open his arms for her to jump in, and she literally did. She latched on to him like a koala as he twirled both of them around, hugging tight each other. They were laughing all the time as happy tears were flowing from their eyes. 

" Oh God I missed you so much. When did you get here and why didn't you tell me that you were coming? I would have came to pick you up from airport, you fool....... But seriously, I missed you so fucking much Cheeku." she started rambling as soon as Liam put her down on her feet, but they were still in each other's arms, looking and smiling at each other like, they were the couple in the room. 

Zayn was smiling, looking at his best friend and fiance. He wasn't jealous at all about them being this close, in fact he was thankful for them being like that. He had gone through a lot to get them even stay in one room together in the start, when they met each other for the first time. 

He started remembering, how the two lovey-dovey in front of his eyes, went from being arch enemies to BBFs. 

Meanwhile Lirrie were catching up with their chats and Larry were just enjoying the free entertainment that was going on in front of their eyes. Until someone said out loud, anger seeping through their voice. 

"WHAT THE FUCK ?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I call them with these nick names. :D :D :D
> 
> Li: Cheeku   
> Z : Bhalu / Bear  
> N : Laddu   
> Lo : Golu / Bhai  
> H : Kaddu / Pumpkin / Sonny Boy
> 
> :)
> 
> Comment if you call any of them by a special nick name.
> 
> ;)


	6. " My Liam."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dear Reader, Both next Chapter ("My Liam" & 9 Years) will briefly describe the history about Harry, Liam, Zayn and Perrie's relationship from the start . It's a really important part of this story in every aspect. So I hope you will like it. 
> 
> Just to let you know, all the four boys in this story were born in 1991, except for Harry, in 1992.

Liam and Harry's families moved from London to New York, when they were only a year old. Both of their families were wealthy because of their businesses. Harry's family owned a really successful hotel business, where Liam's father had a well known construction company. 

Liam was the youngest sibling in his family after two sisters, Nicola and Ruth, and so as Harry, after his older sister Gemma. Harry and Liam's families were related from both of their mum's sides ; Anne and Karen. 

All of the three elder sisters never got along with the two younger brothers. Either they always bickering, fighting or screaming at each other. But whenever it comes to support , they were always there for each other. And because Harry and Liam spent a lot of time together, their parents decided to give them one room to share. 

Yes, Styles and Payne family were living together under one roof. It wasn't that they couldn't afford to live separately, but because the kids were really fond of each other and also because it was easy to raise 5 kids while working as well, if you have someone by your side. 

Liam and Harry was now seven years old. Harry had a really out going and bubbly nature, that could charm anyone to make friends with him. Where Liam was really quiet and self-conscious, and would never try to approach anyone in the first place. In one word, he was an introvert. 

But Harry never left him alone ever, it doesn't matter he was younger than Liam, he was always there for him in his needs and to protect him. And he was the only person with whom Liam could talk about anything and everything, without any hesitation or fear. Liam and Harry were just like real brothers, no one could say that they were cousins. 

One Day when Liam was in his room, doing his homework, Harry came running into the room, looking really excited. Liam got startled at the sudden commotion in room, he looked up at Harry, who was hunched down with his hands on his knees, panting heavily because of the running he just did. 

When Harry looked at him after relaxing a bit, Liam raised his eyebrows at him in question. 

" You've gotta meet him." Harry breathed out as he sat down beside Liam. 

Liam rolled his eyes at him annoyingly and started working on his homework again. Harry's eyebrows frowning at Liam's behaviour, 

" What..... , aren't you going to come downstairs to meet him ? He is a really good guy, Li." 

" How many times do I have to say that I don't want to make any friends, Harry. I'm happy as I am. Please stop doing this." Liam stated, without looking up and kept doing his work. 

" But why not.......? He's really funny, Cheeku. And you know he just moved here from England as well. He said, he was from Bradford. Now come on please....... Ok, just this last time. I promise I won't do this again but please at least meet him. His name is Zayn. " Harry kept bragging about this Zayn boy to Liam. 

Liam was getting frustrated with this, Harry bringing random kids home to befriend Liam. He didn't want to be friends with strangers, he becomes really shy when it comes to meet new people. And when the person is a female, it would cause him 1000 times more nervousness than ever. 

\-------

Once Harry brought a girl named Rayne to meet Liam, he did not expected what happened next, that day. Liam was singing and riding his bike alone in the backyard, when Harry suddenly appeared there with a little brunette girl trailing behind him. Harry called Liam's name to get his attention, when Liam turned to look at him, his eyes widened and he stopped paddling, resulting him to fall down with his bike on the grass. 

The girl started to giggle as Liam abruptly tried to get himself up from the ground. When Liam looked up at her with his angry eyes and embarrassed face, she stopped. Harry looked between both of them and nervously smiled, 

"Hey Liam, this is Rayne. I met her in the park today. And Rayne, this is my brother I was talking about, Liam. " he introduced them and wait for a moment to see if what was going to happen. 

Liam looked from Harry to her again and he started shaking as his face flushed crimson red, tears pooling in his eyes. When Rayne took a step forward to him, Liam shook his head and hiccups a " N-no" as he ran away from there. 

Harry never witnessed this happen before, well.... he never brought a girl before as well. When he turned to Rayne, to apologize, he got even more shocked. Rayne was full on crying, her fist rubbing over her eyes and lips curling down, quavering. 

" Hey hey, don't cry, I'm really sorry that he did that but I promise he didn't mean to make you cry. I'm really sorry, Rayne."  Harry said trying to make her stop crying before any of his parents or sisters would notice that. 

" I-I didn't mean to laugh at him, I swear........" she let out a loud wail." He - he was looking really cute and that's - and that's why I...... But I wasn't laughing at him, Harry...... I swear........" she continued crying and defending herself as Harry was left standing there to make her calm down. 

That day he decided that he would never bring a girl to befriend Liam. 

\-------

" Harry, why do you want me to become friends with someone, when I don't? Please Pumpkin, try to unders........." but someone interrupted him. 

" Hey Harry." It was Zayn himself, standing at the door looking from Harry to Liam and back to Harry. 

" oh hey Zayn, c'mon in. This is Liam by the way. " Harry gave him a dimpled smile and patted the spot next to him on the bed before he moved to sit on the chair next to bed. 

Zayn looks at Liam in hesitation than starts walking towards the bed slowly. Liam starts to get nervous as the boy sits in front of him on the same bed as HE. When Zayn looked at him, Liam looks down immediately and starts shuffling the pages of his text book. 

" Hi, I'm Zayn." Zayn offers Liam a hand to shake , with a timid smile. 

Liam looked at him and then to his hand, and replied. 

" I-I'm Li - Li - Li - Li...." Liam started stuttering as his nervousness getting worse, by the way Zayn was looking at him expectedly. He couldn't speak his own name properly and that was making him feel more insecure about himself. He sucked in the whimper that was about to come out of his trembling lips and shuts his eyes tight as they start watering. He was really ashamed of himself. 

Harry's eyes widened when he saw Liam's state, but before he could say or do something, Zayn beat him to it. 

" Hey hey , it's alright don't worry about it. Just breath in and out okay, slowly yeah. No need to worked up yourself." Zayn said soothingly in a hushed voice. Liam looked up at him with his teary eyes. 

As soon as Zayn made eye contact with him, he gave him a sweet smile to let him know that everything was fine,

" You know, I came here three days ago and since then I was laying around in my room bored to death, and my sisters were running around the whole house and just everywhere screaming , ' oh my God, we are in America and oh my God we are in New York.'. And seriously it was giving me a thousand headaches at one time. Being a single boy in a house full of girls is torture, trust me. " Zayn chuckled and shook his head looking down. He was trying to distract him. 

" I c-can tell. " 

Huh.... Who said that....? 

Zayn looks up at Harry and found him smiling and gesturing towards Liam. Zayn turned his head to look at Liam in confusion , who was fiddling with his fingers and was biting on his lips nervously. 

" W-we have th-three sisters, s-so I c-can underst-tand." Liam still wasn't looking at him. 

" Well that's a relief to know that I'm not the only one who's a victim of the cruelty here." Zayn smiles and kept his gaze on the shy boy sitting in front of him. 

This time Liam looked up at him, and when he found Zayn smiling at him like that, he couldn't resist himself and gave away a coy smile. 

" A-Are you the eldest of them all ....?" This time Liam asked the question and tried to keep talking about the same topic instead of something else and tried not to make himself more embarrassed. 

" Actually no . The eldest between us is Doniya and then I, Waliyah and Safaa. So yeah, I'm definitely at the pity party here." he sighs . 

Liam couldn't control himself looking at Zayn's pouty face and a giggle slips out of his lips all of a sudden . Zayn looks at him and for a few second he admires his shy smile then says, acting fake hurt. 

" oh... So my misery seems funny to you, huh.....?" he folds his hands and gives him a stern look.

Liam's eyes widened and he rapidly shook his head, 

"No no no.... I - I didn't mean to......" he stopped talking, when suddenly Zayn burst into fits of laughter after watching his baffled face, and fall off of the bed, laughing really hard. 

" Yo-your face..... a hahahahaha..... Your so cute when you get nervous...... ahahaha " Zayn couldn't even speak because of the laughter as he tried to sit up on his elbows 

Liam who was staring at him in anger, suddenly blushes pink after hearing that and throws a pillow at him, which hit Zayn right in the face and he falls back on the floor with a loud "ow" cries out of his lips . Both of them burst into laughter, looking at each other. 

But after a few minutes their laughter suddenly stopped when they noticed something. 

Harry wasn't in the room any more. 

" When did he left... Did you saw him walking out of the room....?" Zayn asked. 

"Ummm I didn't see him leaving as well." Liam said suddenly looking nervous, when he realized that he was alone with Zayn in the room. But before he could start to hyperventilating, Zayn tried to distract him. He could easily sense him getting nervous. 

" Hey, you have a guitar. Do you know how to play..?" 

" Huh.....? Oh. Y-yeah, but I'm not really good at it as I am at...." he stopped talking before he could say anything else. He suddenly start pulling out the invisible lint from his trousers. He was hesitating about something. 

" As good as you are at...?" Zayn turned to look at him in confusion. 

" N-Nothing. L- Let's just go check o-on Harry." he gets up from bed and starts walking towards the door, but halts his steps when Zayn speaks again. 

" Wait.... What else instruments can you play, Liam ? " he asked standing in front of him. 

Liam wouldn't answer the question but kept looking down. 

" I was just trying to ask because, I don't know how to play any of the them, so maybe you can teach me. But I guess it's okay. And yeah let's see if we could find Harry." Zayn sagged his head and shoulders before turning around and walking towards the door. 

" Piano."

Zayn stops his feet from taking another step ahead, a smile suddenly appeared on his cherry pink lips. He turns around to face him. 

" I have been learning and playing, since I was 5." he said looking at him. 

"Woah.... Really....?" Zayn's face reflecting complete amazement. 

Liam gives him a shy smile and nods his head. 

" So.... Maybe.... Would you....." Zayn start scratching back of his head, smiling nervously, as he asks for his help. 

Liam looks at him for a few seconds, then looks down to think about it. All the time Zayn was looking at him with hopeful eyes. 

"O-Okay." he gives him a bright smile this time. 

Zayn's eyes twinkle with happiness as he pumps his fist up in excitement. 

" Yes ! Thank you, thank you, thank you so..... much. I promise you will not regret it." Zayn says in complete joy. Zayn was trying really hard not to hug the boy standing in front of him, but he was sure that it will startled him, so he would never do it. Liam was smiling big, crinkles appearing by his eyes. 

" Let's go find Harry, now. He must be downstairs." as he was about to turn, Liam said something, which caused his happiness to double. 

" Liam."  Zayn looks at him. 

" I'm Liam." he said and stuck out his hand to him, for handshake. 

Zayn chuckled and grabbed his hand, giving it a good shake, he said, 

" I'm Zayn." 

They both looked at each other other smiling big and one last thing Zayn asked to make sure, 

"So... are we friends....?" 

" Definitely, Maybe ." Liam says mischievously and walks out of the room. 

Zayn shakes his head smiling like a fool and says before following maybe his future best friend. 

" Definitely." 

And that's how their friendship starts. 

It was bit different in the start to get along with each other for Liam, but slowly taking baby steps, he really became best friend with Zayn. Zayn, Liam and Harry started to hang out more often when Zayn started going to the same school as them. 

Zayn's family also become really good friends with Liam and Harry's families. And the three sisters in Payne and Styles family found their new three friends in Zayn's sisters. 

As the time goes by they all started to become best of the friends that anyone could ever imagine. Studies, sleepovers, bike riding or doing pranks on their sisters, they all do everything together. Everything was going great until one day an incident occurred. 

They all were 14 now and freshman (9th grade) in high school. Liam improved really well, when it comes talking to a stranger, with the support and encouragement by Harry and Zayn. He usually speaks clearly without any stutter at all. But there were some times when people try to pick on him and make fun of him, he gets nervous and starts stuttering. And that's what happen that day. 

Some kids that proclaim themselves to be the bosses of the school, were trying to corner Liam for quite a while now, but being Harry and Zayn around him always, they just couldn't. And that day when they found him alone going to the library, they got their hands on him. They shoved him into the locker and punched him a few times into his guts. Couldn't be able to bare the pain in his stomach, he slid down to the ground and dropped on his side, curling himself into a ball. 

But that didn't stopped there, because next thing what Liam felt was, a guy crushing him with his leg and grabbing his hair, pulling on them to make his face pulled out from where it was hidden between his knees, and a fist colliding to his left eye. He wailed a loud cry in pain as everything starts to spin in front of his eyes. But before he could sense anything, another fist collided on his jaw which definitely hurt more as his inner cheek and tongue got caught between his teeth and starts bleeding. 

He was about to give up on the pain, when noticed that the guy pulled his fist back to punch him again . He shut his eyes closed tight, ready to take the punch again and maybe this time thankfully he blackout instead of baring the throbbing pain. But before he could feel the punch on his face, someone screamed at distance. 

" HEY...." 

and he felt steps advancing towards them and in a second he felt the weight was lifted above him. 

"What the hell do you think you are doing...?"  Zayn, he could recognize his voice really well. 

" Oh... Li... $hit.... Carefully..." he felt Zayn helping him to sit up. He wasn't able to open both of his eyes as one was swollen because of the first punch. But when he tried to open his other eye, he saw the same guy who punched him before, laying flat on the floor. But suddenly his eyes grew wide when he saw another boy approaching Zayn from behind and definitely planning to hit him in his head, Liam exclaimed in fear, " ZAYN WATCH OUT ." 

Zayn turned and ducked his head when the boy tried to hit him. He lunged towards the boy and tackled him down and started punching him, he shouted each word after every punch, 

"Don't" (punch) "You" (punch) "Fucking" (punch) "Dare"(punch) "To"(punch) "Touch" (punch) "My Liam" (punch) "Do you get that, you bastard?" (3 punches back to back) 

Liam was in utter shock to witness his best friend like this. He couldn't understand what happened there when his eyes started to water suddenly. He was watching Zayn's every movement, the way he was looking at the guy in fury, like he wanted to kill the guy right at the moment. The way he was punching him, the way his jaw clutches when he says the words punching him. But the thing made his heart beating rapidly was when he heard, Zayn saying, "My Liam" 

Those words left an unknown feeling inside his heart as his inside flipped a thousand times at that one moment. He felt protected from all of the fears in the world. 

His thoughts got interrupted when suddenly two more boys came running towards them and tried to attacked Zayn, but suddenly Harry reached there and pushed both of them against the wall and started to punch them. But they couldn't fight more as a teacher came running to them when he saw from the corridor, what was happening. 

" What is going on in here...?" the teacher asked them and pulled Harry and Zayn off of the boys. 

" Sir, these boys tried to hurt my brother and when my friend here, try to save him, they start fighting. You can see his condition, how badly they hurt him." Harry was panting heavily along with Zayn and all the boys. Liam was still sitting on the floor looking dishevelled and somewhat shocked , his whole left face swollen and blood dripping from his eyebrow, nose and busted lips. The blood stains ruined his white shirt completely. 

" Okay, you Mr...." 

"Styles" 

" Mr. Styles, you need to take him to the nurse's office and your friend and these boys are coming with me to the principal's office." the teacher ordered strictly. 

" Zayn you go with him and take care of him, and I'll go with them to make sure, they won't go without getting enough punishment for hurting our Liam." Harry says while growling at the 4 boys and helps Zayn to make Liam stand on his feet, before walking out of there with teacher and other 4 boys. 

When Zayn was taking him to the nurse's office, Liam was just looking at his face. Zayn looked at him for a second and gave him a smile. 

" Everything is okay, you're okay, yeah." Zayn said looking at him in the eyes. 

Liam couldn't say a word but he kept staring at his face for a few seconds then lowered his eyes as they kept walking slowly. If it wasn't for Zayn holding him steady in his arms, he would have been collapsing any second now. But that wasn't going to happen, Zayn would never let that happen to him. 

When the nurse walked out of the room after helping him with his wounds and injuries, Liam and Zayn were left alone in the room. Liam was sitting on the bed, his head resting back on the headboard and legs crossed. Zayn was filling out Liam's information in the nurse's information register. When he walked up to the bed and take a look at Liam's face, that's when he realized that he was crying. He sat beside him and wiped tears from his cheeks but that caused Liam to hiss in pain as Zayn brushed his wounded cheek. 

" Sorry." Zayn said apologetically retrieving his hand back. 

" 's not your fault." Liam said looking straight at nothing, into the space. 

" It is my fault that you've got hurt today. I should have been there for you when you needed me." Zayn said looking at him, hurt and regret visible in his eyes. 

" I'm not a kid any more Zayn that you should protect me every time. I'm 14 years old of w-worthless s-shit....." he bit his lips to swallow the whimper. His eyes started to spill the warm liquid from them in much faster pace than before. 

Zayn's emotions gave up on him as his own eyes started crying. He grabbed his hand and pulled him into his arms, and wrapped his arms securely around him. He stared stroking his back and brushing his hair with his hands. 

" Don't you ever say that again about yourself, you hear me......? I don't want you to feel any less of you than you really are. You are the most beautiful and worthy person in this entire world for me. And I could never thank enough Harry for dragging me into your house that day. That day I find the most important person of my life." 

Liam couldn't control his emotions and he started sobbing into his chest, his hands clutching his shirt into his fist as he cried his heart out that day. He couldn't understand what he was doing but all he wanted was to be in those arms for the rest of his life. He never felt this content ever. 

After that day Liam's feelings about Zayn, started getting stronger with each passing day. He was still unfamiliar with the emotions that were developing inside his heart for his best friend, that they were of Love for Zayn. 

When at the age of 17, Harry came out to him, he wasn't surprised by his confession as he always had his doubts about it. He accepted him with his whole heart and helped him to explain everything to their families. Their families were also very supportive about it. 

Liam was still to understand what was going on with his heart and mind because whenever he thinks about relationships, Zayn's face appears in front of his eyes. But he always tries to avoid the feelings, because he doesn't wants to harm his friendship with him by taking the risk. 

Liam always knew that Zayn was not into boys and was straight as he always knew about him flirting with the girls. But that didn't change Liam's feelings about him. He tried to avoid the feelings, he even tried to avoid Zayn by fighting with him and not talking to him for 2 whole week. But that only resulted both of them being miserable and almost killing themselves as they both couldn't eat anything knowing that the other person was hurt. And Liam's feelings only grew more for him. 

After that incident, Liam promised himself that he would never do anything like that ever again to Zayn, even if he had to hide his feelings for him, his entire life.

All of that continues to happen until the day Zayn finally found the right girl for himself ; Perrie Edwards. They all were 20 and in the business school for their Hotel Management Studies. 

Liam knew that Perrie was the best girl, Zayn could ever find for himself. From the day one, Perrie was the best student in the college. She never hang around with random boys just to flirt or get into their beds and it didn't mean that she was boring. She was the most outgoing and bubbly girl with a really good character, he has found in that school. 

And that's what hurt him the most. He knew that the fear he always had about Zayn finding the perfect girl for himself, came true. Don't get him wrong, he wasn't unhappy for his best friend, in fact he was more relieved that, Perrie was the girl for him. But it was his feelings for Zayn those gone shattered after seeing that. 

Even though he was dying inside his heart, he always supported their relationship. But sometimes it got hard when he would find both of them kissing and flirting with each other in his house. After few months of meeting Perrie, Liam started to get annoyed with their affection ; it was a genuine human behavior to get jealous. Still he never hated the girl, he was also really fond of her personality. 

But whenever it comes to Zayn's priorities, they both would start to compete against each other and that would only cause them to start bickering and mild verbal fights. Whenever they start doing that, Zayn usually would be sitting between them holding his head in his hand because he can not choose one person between his best friend and girlfriend. And all that time Harry would be entertaining himself by the free and live daily soap opera playing in front of his eyes. And maybe even light up the fire between the two again, if he finds it going down too soon for his enjoyment. It was all hell of a funny for him to watch his best friend going through the drastic situation. 

One time their fight got heat up to the stage where Perrie tried to murder Liam with the sofa cushion, when she was pinning him down on the floor . It was all because Harry said that Zayn loves Liam the most and Liam started making fun of her. It was all a part of a joke until Harry said that Zayn would ditch Perrie if Liam asked him to and Liam started laughing. That's when she attacked him with the cushion and started hitting him until he was laying flat on the floor and she was sitting on him. Harry screamed for Zayn when she put the cushion on Liam's face and pushed to block his air to breath. She wasn't insane but Liam was getting on her nerves that day. 

When Harry returned back with Zayn running behind him, they both stopped in their tracks when they saw what was going on. Liam and Perrie both were laying on their sides facing each other on the floor, but they were pulling on each other's hairs, continuously screaming at each other, Zayn loves them the most. 

Zayn huffed getting tired of their childish behavior and walked back to his room and Harry continued his entertainment by the two idiots on the floor, sitting on the sofa next to them while eating some popcorn ; Literally. 

That all kept going until one day when Harry found him crying in one of the washrooms in college and confronted him about it, that's when he explained everything to him. His feelings about Zayn, from the day he first time had them, till now. It was the last day of their college life before they take the next step to their career in Hotel Management. They all were 21.

Harry was shocked would be an understatement, because he never thought that Liam was in love with Zayn. He always knew that Liam had feelings for someone as he sometimes found him smiling alone ; probably thinking about someone. But whenever he asked about it, Liam would denied it or change the topic. Once he even tried to trick him into get drunk and spill the beans, but Liam said nothing about the boy he had feelings, except for that he wasn't think of him like that. And in the morning, he first time got scolded by his brother like that bad. 

Harry had no idea how to make his pain go when Liam told him the reason why he was crying. 

Zayn told Liam earlier that day that he said 'I love you' to Perrie and that he wants to be with her for the rest of his life. Liam knew really well that Zayn saved those words for the one and only person, and it seemed like that person was Perrie. But Liam was strong enough to understand and overcome from his pain ; he was doing that from past 7 years.

Since that day, Harry was more careful than ever whenever it comes to Zayn and Perrie, in front of Liam. He was always there for Liam to distract him from the couple and Liam can't thank enough him for that. 

But his dam of emotions broke down that day when he witnessed Zayn proposing Perrie. They were 22.

That day he couldn't find himself as strong as before and everything fall apart for him. As soon as Zayn was done with proposing and thanking everyone, Liam gave him and Perrie a hug and walked away from there excusing himself for a business meeting, Harry followed him right after.  

(After graduating from the business school, Harry, Liam and Zayn, they all joined Harry's father's company, Styles Hotels Corporations because they all majored in the same industry.) 

Liam actually went to his office and locked himself inside. When Harry reached there and asked for him to his assistant, he said, he was in his office and requested not to be disturbed. Harry's mind suddenly creating worst scenarios and he rushed to the door. He knocked on the door a few times but Liam didn't answered, so he knocked harshly next time with calling out his name. 

He was about to burst open the door when it suddenly opened. 

.


	7. 9 Years

Liam opened the door, but he was talking on the phone so he signaled him to keep quiet and ushered him inside. 

Harry was confused to find him this calm after witnessing him the way he rushed out from the scene earlier. Liam was talking about something which he could not understand because he was talking in German. Liam was fluent in German. When Liam disconnected the phone call , he looked at Harry .

" Weren't you supposed to be with Zayn...? Harry you know, he needs at least one of us with him, there. He just made the biggest decision of his life." Liam said and he start to shuffle through some files on his desk. 

" Liam, look at me." Harry said when he was standing next to him. 

" What ? " Liam was still busy with his files. 

Harry rolled his eyes in frustration and snatched the file from his hand, before abruptly turning him to face him. 

" What the hell, Harry ? What's wrong with you ?" Liam said and pulled back his hand with a jerk, frowning at him. 

" What are you doing here, Liam ?" Harry asked crossing his arms in front of him. 

" I told you and Zayn before I left from the party, I had some work in the office. "

" What kind of work ?" 

" Didn't you just saw, I was talking on the phone. I was talking to Mr. Lahnstein about the project in Duesseldorf." 

Harry rubbed his face in getting more frustrated and said. " Stop it, Liam. Stop lying to me. I can tell by your eyes that you left from there because you were getting hurt. "

Liam looked at him, " I'm not getting hurt, Harry. Actually now I'm getting better. Zayn is happy and so am I. I've always known that there wasn't a slightest chance for me being with him. But when I saw them both looking that much happy with each other, I finally felt that I can move on with my life now. " he said giving him a small smile. 

" But Liam.... "

" Shhhhh.... I know you are worried about me but trust me, I'm okay. I'm happy. So please be as supportive as you have always been and give me a hug, so I can start the new chapter of my life. " Liam said and pulled him in his arms for a heart warming hug.

" I love you so much, you know that right." Harry said into the crook of his neck.

Liam nodded.

" And I'll always be here for you. I promise you that I will always be with you, even if I have to ditch Blake." he jokes about his boyfriend from past 1 years. 

" Well I think you should ditch him. He's not good enough for you, Pumpkin." Liam said seriously and he pulled back from hug. 

" OK I take it back, I'm going to leave you if you said that one more time. You know how much I love him." he said pouting at him. 

" You're an idiot. " Liam chuckled and hugged him back, tightly this time. He knew really well why he was telling him to leave the guy, because that guy was after his money and Harry was too blind to see it. 

But for now his concentration was on something different, something that was going to change his life, but he never thought it would turn out to be totally different than he ever thought. 

\-----------

After a week or so, Liam announced his departure from New York to Duesseldorf. He was moving to Germany. At first Harry and Zayn were surprised to know about it but when he explained that the new hotel there needed someone from the head office, so he was just volunteering, they all believed him. 

It was the night before Liam was leaving for Germany. He was almost done with the packing and his flight was next day in evening. He was pulling out some of his work folders from the bookshelf in his room, when suddenly something dropped off of the bookshelf. He looked at it and picking it up, he was about to put it back when he noticed that it was a photo album. When he turned the cover open, his breath hitched when he saw the first picture in it. 

It was Zayn's. 

He traced his fingers over the photo and a tear dropped on it, he was smiling. He left all of the folders on a table sitting next to him and walked towards the bed. He sat down on it in Indian style, before putting the album in his lap. With every turning page his eyes started to wet even more, but the smile never left his lips. 

It was half an hour later, he was holding the album open and close to his heart, with his eyes closed, and he was sobbing. He was determined to move on in his life, but still it was hard for him to get over from him. 

He was hunched down hugging the album close, like he was actually hugging the person who's picture was in it and his whole body was trembling with each sob leaving his lips, when he felt someone's fingers brushing his hair softly. He looks up and the person who was standing in front of him gasped seeing his red and swollen eyes. 

" Oh Liam...." 

" Help me, Harry....." he sobbed harder, holding him close and hugging his torso.

"why are you doing this to yourself, Liam. You think I'm a fool. And I would never understand that you are running away from Zayn." he said rubbing his back. 

" I n-need to get a-away from h-him, if I-I want to restart m-my life, Harry. I can't hide m-my f-feelings from him anym-more. " he was hysterical. 

Harry tried to make him calm down as soon as he felt him getting worked up. He sat down beside him and hugged him close. He was kept whispering supporting and soothing words in his ear, when Liam was explaining him about everything. How his dad asked him to go to Germany earlier but he rejected the idea, and how after that day when Zayn proposed Perrie, he decided to take a bit of time away from him to forget his love for the boy, of those 9 years. 

After a while when Harry felt him composed, he said, 

" It's okay, Li. I understand what you are going through and that's why I'm not going to stop you. I know you........" 

before he could complete his sentence someone spoke from the door and both of them, Harry and Liam gasped after recognizing the voice, 

" But I'm going to stop you." 

Zayn said looking angry and walked further into the room with Perrie trailing behind him. She was shocked as her eyes were wide and were looking between Harry and Liam. 

When Zayn reached to the bed, he told Harry, but his eyes were hooked on to Liam's fragile state. 

" Harry, please leave me and Liam alone for a while, I need to talk to him about something." 

Liam's grip tightened on Harry's shirt, when he heard that. He was silently requesting him to not. Harry felt his distress and requested to Zayn. 

" Zayn, please. This is not the time to talk about it. Let him.... "

" I did not ask you for it, Harry. I told you." Zayn said averting his eyes from Liam to Harry. His eyes dominating his voice. 

Harry looked at Liam and back to Zayn. " I don't want him to get hurt in any way, Zayn. He's already had enough. "

" I'm not going to hurt him, Harry. He's my best friend, I'm just going to ask him about something and if he doesn't want to answer me, you'll be seeing me walking out of the room right then and there. The doors will be unlocked all the time. "

Harry looks into his eyes for a few seconds and when he couldn't find anything to doubt worthy, he started to untangle himself from Liam. Liam started shaking his head to him, pleading, but Harry knew that it was better for both of them if they talk now, before it goes out of hands and Liam leaves for Germany.

" It's okay Liam, just call me if you want and he's your best friend as well. Please don't worry about anything and don't worked up yourself." he says and gets up from the bed after kissing him on the temple.

" Perrie, please go with Harry, and if you want to, you can sleep in the guest room for the night." Zayn said looking back at Perrie. She looks at Harry who gives her a nod and she walks away with him without a word but not before looking one last time at Liam. 

As soon as the door closes, Zayn turns to Liam and asks for his permission to sit next to him on the bed. 

" Can I sit there, with you ?" 

Liam looks at him for a moment and nods before moving aside, making enough space for him to sit. 

When Zayn takes his place beside him, same as Liam was sitting in Indian style, he puts both of his own hands in his lap and asks him the first question. 

" Since when ?" he was looking at his hand. 

" W-When we were fo-fourteen..." Liam answered, wiping his cheeks also looking down. 

Zayn's head turned to him in a flash with his eyes wide open. 

" Since then...?" 

Liam just gives him a nod. 

" Would you.... maybe...... if you don't have problem..... would you mind telling me how you.... "

" How I fell in love with you ?" Liam completed his sentence. 

"Y-yeah." 

Liam nods to himself and pulls his legs to his chest and hugs them around with his arms. He said looking into the space ahead of him. 

" Do you remember, when in 9th grade, that guy bullied me and you and Harry saved me..?"

" Jason Irwin, yes, I remember him." he said looking at him.

" That day it all started."

" How...?" Zayn asked as he was still unaware of the feelings which he caused to rise in Liam's heart, being completely oblivious.

Liam chuckled at himself and looked at him, 

" You really want to know." it was statement more than a question. Zayn just looks at him without any words. 

Liam breaths out and starts telling him the story of how he fell for him. He explained him each and everything because he knew that he would never have the guts again to talk to him about all of this. He even apologized for those two weeks when he had that fight with him to push him away from himself and caused both of them to get equally harm. 

He explained every little detail when his feelings get more stronger for him and how he tried to cope with it. How Harry found out about his truth and to the day Zayn proposed Perrie and till now, his reason behind leaving New York. And him deciding to get over with his feelings for him. 

All the time Liam never met Zayn's eyes for split second as he could feel his eyes on his face. Between talking, he would wipe his face when he feel the silent tears squeezing out of his eyes and chuckled at himself. 

Zayn never said anything except for the times Liam asked for him about something. He was really carefully and attentively listening to every single detail and closely observing his every emotion, the way Liam was explaining him the story. His own eyes were wet after realizing the times Liam cried because of him. Maybe it wasn't his fault but the fact was, he was the reason behind his tears . 

When Liam finished telling him the story, he looked at him for the first time and gives him a sad smile. Zayn looks down to his hands and apologizes. 

" I'm sorry." 

" What are YOU sorry for, Zayn ?" Liam asked confused. 

" The amount of times, I've hurt you and made you cry. It was oblivious to me but still it was because of me, you cried." he still wasn't looking at him. 

" Zayn, look at me." Liam says and after a few seconds Zayn looks up at him. His eyes and cheeks wet with fresh tears. Liam shakes his head and gives him a sad smile. 

" You never made me cry, Bear. You made me to realise, how beautiful it feels to fall in love with someone. Even not being in a relationship with me, you were there for me in times even when a boyfriend would never be able to. You made me who I am right now, you made me strong enough to fight for myself. Damn you even forced me to join those stupid boxing classes so that no one could ever harm me again. You helped me to stand up on my own feet. You never made me cry, you never made me week, because you always make me strong. "

Zayn kept looking into his eyes to search for anything that could say that he was lying, but he could not found it in them. A whimper left his lips as he pulled Liam into his arms. He nuzzled his face into his neck and cried until his heart felt better. Liam was surprised at first to see him like this, but when he understood that he was just overwhelmed by the confession he himself just did to him, he started pacifying him. 

" I never knew Liam. I never thought that I was the one, you were in love with." he said when he pulled back and wiped his face. 

" Did you.... did you know that I was in love with someone...?" 

" I had my doubts. I have known you for the most of my life Liam, how can I not know about your emotions. I was confused about the person, because I never found you looking at anyone. But now I know that why would a person be looking into the crowd, when the person whom he loved was always by his side. " Zayn chuckled at himself after finally getting everything. 

Liam looked down, a blush coating his cheeks and nose, turning them more pink than they were before. 

" You look cute when you blush like that. " Zayn compliments him. 

" Shut up and help me with my packing. I still have a lot of thin....." Liam slaps on his knees and started to get off of the bed, but Zayn holds his hand and pulls him back on to the bed. 

" Wait a minute. Where do you think you're going to, Mr. Payne ? "

" I never thought, your memory was this weak, Mr. Malik. I have a flight to catch tomorrow evening for Germany, if you remember the announcement." Liam said and tried to get up again but yet again Zayn pulled him back and this time causing Liam to stumbling and falling on his back on bed with an "oomph". Then Liam found himself pinned onto the mattress, because Zayn was sitting on his stomach with his hand folded in front of him. 

" What the heck, Z..? Get off of me, you giant elf." Liam laughed when Zayn wouldn't budge and kept his position intact on him, looking ahead of him, at the wall. 

" Bear.... I need to pack Bubba...." 

" No, you don't." he was still not making eye contact with him. 

" Zayn, stop behaving like a kid and help me. And for GOD'S SAKE, GET OFF OF ME." he tried to make him move but in return he just got a growl from the Man/Child sitting on top of him. He started laughing at his growling. 

"You're not going anywhere." Zayn said finally looking at him. 

" What....?" 

Zayn climbed off of him to sit next to him, Liam got up and stared at him while fixing himself. 

" You're not leaving tomorrow and that's final." he said looking into his eyes. 

" Zayn.... I... You don't understand. I need to take a break from all of this." 

" Maybe not before, but now I understand everything. And that's why I'm asking you to not to leave ."

" I AM going tomorrow, Zayn. I don't have another choice, if I want to finally get over with my feelings. "

" You have a choice. You have a choice to stay in ; with us here. "

" That's not the solution to my misery, Zayn. " 

" Yes, it is. "

" How ? How will I forget my feelings for you, when you will be in front of my eyes all the time..... ; how, Zayn....? " 

" You don't have to forget your feelings for me, Liam. Because that's impossible to do, even if you stay away from me for your life long. And you know that's true . "

Liam looks down, not finding the right words to reply to that statement of his. 

" Exactly..... 

What I'm trying to say is that you don't have to hurt any of us and yourself by leaving. We all will help you to get over the feelings."

Liam looks at him in confusion. " And how would you propose to do that ? " 

" It was hard for you to get over me because you had to hide your feelings from me, and that only caused you to obliviously make them more stronger and deeper . But now that I know about them, you don't have to pretend and get hurt by hiding them and yourself from me. 

I know it's going to take a while to do that , but at least you won't be hurting yourself by doing that. And as per what you said before, You already made up your mind about giving your life a new start, so I think it will be a bit easier. 

One more thing, us being there would be better than to leaving you all alone on your own in a complete different continent. But I promise you , this time it will be different from before, us helping you. " He explained and finished with a cheeky smirk while saying the last part. 

Liam gave him a suspicious look, creasing his eyebrows. " Different, how ? "

" We won't be anymore ahead of you to hold your hand and to show you the path, but we always will be behind you to hold you still if you ever start falling down. You will be the only one to give yourself a new start, but with a tinzy bit of our support. " Zayn said giving him a smile. 

Liam looks at him for a moment to look into his eyes and then looked down when his eyes start to get wet. " You think, I can do that ; change my life...? "

Zayn puts a finger under his chin to lift it up and to tell him looking straight into his eyes. 

" I don't think, because I know, you can." he said truthfully. 

" You're an idiot, you know that right..... " Liam says chuckling and wiping his eyes. 

" Well that's a really good way to talk to your new boyfriend. Calling him an idiot." Zayn fakes cry. 

Liam laughed out loud and said, " What are you talking about, you Goof...? "

Zayn got up from bed and kneeled down in front Liam. He took Liam's both hand in his own and said with a really serious yet loving way looking into his eyes. 

" Liam James Payne, you were the first person I have ever befriended after coming to this country. Even though your brother came into my life an hour before you did, but you were the one who said yes to be my friend, first . We've been best friends for like......... "

"16 years." Liam chuckled 

" Yeah, right, 16 years. Wow that long we have been torturing each other. I didn't reali......" 

" Focus, Bear." Liam reminded him rolling his eyes. He knew that he wasn't proposing for real but he was just curious to see what Zayn was planning on doing. 

" Shit.. Sorry... So where was I.... O yeah, 16 years. Well we have been friends for 16 years, and I guess we both know each other really well. But now I think we should move forward with our relationship. 

So today..... I'm asking you to give me the permission to be your boyfriend. Until you find a better person than me, which is highly doubtful. " Zayn scoffs, feeling proud of himself. 

" You're such an Idiot. " Liam shakes his head laughing at his stupidity. 

" So would you like to be my boyfriend...? " he said looking hopefully at him with puppy face. 

" ehhh.... Well there's nothing special about you rather than, you are my best friend and I am in love with you since I was 14. I don't think you are good enough to be my boyfriend. So sorry, but no." Liam says dramatically and tries to pull back his hand from his. Zayn's eyes widened as he holds his hand tightly, 

" No no no no no... Wait, I have more to propose into this relationship. "

" Like what ? "

" Like no where in this entire world you will get, what I have to propose here." he says smiling big. 

" O-kay.... and that is ?" he was curious. 

" My charming and beautiful girlfriend."

Liam looked at him with big eyes feeling shocked and then he burst out laughing suddenly and fell back on the bed. He was laughing really hard to control his breathing. 

" Oh God... Zayn. You need to stop now. If Perrie heard you saying that, she will murder you cold heartedly. Seriously get up from there." he said when finally his laughter subsided. 

Zayn smiled at him and plopped down beside him. He pulled the duvet cover over both of them, it start to get cold as the night went on. Both of them snuggled into each other and that's when Zayn asked. 

" Li..... do you hate Perrie....?" 

Liam frowned at the question, he looked at him pulling his head back from where it was on Zayn's shoulder. 

" What are you talking about, Z ? Why would I hate Perrie...?" 

Zayn hesitated for a while and then said. 

" I mean, like all the times when you both were fighting over me, which still happens sometimes. And if I may add you guys go really crazy with each other, whenever it comes to me. So.... I don't know, maybe..... That's because you guys really don't like each other....?" it was question more than explaining. 

Liam huffed at his speech and looked at him smiling , " We don't hate each other, Zayn. Yeah maybe in the start of you guy's relationship, I used to get jealous alot and would fight with her intentionally. But ever since you told me your feelings about her and that you said her that you loved her, I never did that out of jealousy. 

Ever since than I started respecting your relationship with her. Not that I didn't do before, but after that I really knew that you were serious about her. "

" But you guys still fight. " Zayn reasons. 

" Yes we do and probably will keep doing in the future as well. But now we do it to pick on each other not because of the jealousy. She had nothing to do with our fight, it was always me or Harry to piss her off by taking your name. So I'm sure that we both don't hate each other ; until now. Because I'm not sure how she feels about me after hearing everything. "

Liam looks down getting nervous after suddenly realizing about the fact that she also heard everything. 

" Hey hey... Don't worry about it. I know she will understand. So don't think too much, yeah. "

" I don't know Zayn, I really like her. Maybe we fight with each other a lot but I think of her as I think of you or Harry." 

" Liam, do you trust me...?" he puts his hand on his shoulder to make him look up. 

" Of course. "

" Than trust me when I say this, she is the most amazing woman I have ever met. And I'm not exaggerating it but the truth is that she is the most intelligent person as well between us four. So she'll understand it." he said giving him assurance. 

" You think so ? "

" I know so. Now come on get back here cause now we are going to explore our childhood through these beautiful memories. And just to make sure you understand this, you are not going anywhere tomorrow. Better cancel your tickets now to get refunds ." Zayn said and put the album in his lap before opening it from the start. Liam chuckled at his stubbornness and snuggled into his side. 

Both of them sighed in content and suddenly Zayn exclaimed after turning the page. 

" Oh my God... When the fu¢k did you take this...? I look like complete idiot." he groan and facepalm, and Liam laughed out loud. 

 

\------------

Next Morning

After knocking on the door quite a few times, Perrie didn't get any reply, so she just turned the knob to check if it was open, which really was. She slowly opened the door and walked inside. When she turned to look for the people she came to give their breakfast, she paused for a moment after watching the scene.

Both of the boys were sleeping peacefully, but the way they were sleeping caused her to smile in adoration. Zayn's head was laying on Liam's lap and Liam's head was resting on his arm, face down. Even though their sleeping position wasn't looking so comfortable, but looking at their faces, anyone could tell that they were really comfortable.

Perrie moved forward and after putting the breakfast tray on the bedside table, she turned to them. When she looked closely, she found something hidden underneath Liam's hand. She picked it up and easily recognized that it was their album. She turned a few pages and after fonding over the cute memories preserved inside the folder, she put it aside on chair.

Slowly and very gently she tapped on Zayn's thigh to wake him up, but she got no response, so she tried again and still Zayn wasn't stirring a bit. She smiled in fond at his heavy sleeping habit and tried to wake Liam.

" Liam... Wake up, it's morning."

Nope. Nada. 

"Liiiiaaammmmm...." she shook his shoulder firmly. 

"hmphh... Wha....... Go 'way Arry.... L' me sleep in.... Ma head hurts....." And he again snuggles into Zayn. 

Perrie rolls her eyes, getting tiered of their stubbornness, she looked around into the room and when she found the perfect thing to make both of them wake up instantly, she went ahead to get it. She came back to their bed and positioned herself next to them and taking a deep breath, she harshly strummed the strings, producing a really loud sound from the guitar. Both of the boys shrieked out at the sudden loud noise and woke up covering their ears, their eyes open wide. 

" What the hell, Pez...?" Zayn said outrageously, putting a hand on his rapidly beating heart. He turned to Liam, who was mirroring him by putting a palm flat on his chest, breathing heavily. 

" Li, you okay ?" he asked. Liam gave him a nod and looked up at Perrie. 

Zayn turned back to Perrie and said feeling pissed , 

" Why did you do that....?" 

" I tried to wake you guys up but you didn't, so I had to do it. And by the way, I brought breakfast for you two so eat up. And Liam as soon as you finish your breakfast, get ready and meet me downstairs, we are going out." she said flatly and start walking out of the room. 

" Wait... " Zayn said getting out of the bed. 

" What ? " she said looking at him crossing her arms. 

" What do you mean, you want to talk to him ? And where are you taking him ? "

" It's between me and him, so for both of your questions, the answer is same ; None. Of. Your. Business." she said and looked at Liam behind him sitting on the bed looking at both of them, and said. 

" I'll be waiting for you, Liam, downstairs. Make it faster. " with that she walked out of the room ignoring Zayn's protests. 

Zayn turned to look at Liam who was in fact looking nervous, and sat beside him. 

" Hey... Don't get nervous. Maybe she just wanted to ask you about something. She isn't a bad person, you said it yourself last night." Liam looks at him and breaths out nodding to himself. 

\----------

Perrie was watching TV and Harry was talking on the phone sitting beside her, when both of the boys went downstairs into the living area. Perrie felt their presence and switched off the television, Harry also got off of the phone, looking between them.

" I'm coming with you guys." Zayn stated firmly. 

Perrie got up from the sofa after picking up her things, 

" Let's go, Liam. We are getting late." she avoided what Zayn said completely, and get a hold on Liam's hand before start walking towards the main door. 

" Perrie, stop. He's not going anywhere without me." Zayn stopped them, holding Liam back by his another hand. 

" Zayn, let them go. " Harry said standing next to him. 

" But Harry..." 

" Trust me, Zayn." Harry said putting a hand on his shoulder to assure him. 

Zayn looked at Liam, who gave him a nod with little smile, and Zayn let go off him. 

" Perrie, don't forget about the fact that he came into my life way before than you did, when you talk to him." Zayn said standing in front of her, looking straight into her eyes, daringly. 

Perrie just walked out of the door without giving him any expressions, dragging Liam with her. Liam and Zayn's eyes met for a second when he walked out. 

Harry walked over to Zayn and patted his shoulders before bringing him inside. 

" Everything's gonna be alright." 

\------------------

Perrie and Liam were sitting in a park, looking at the kids playing football a feet away from them. 

" I'm sorry." Liam said breaking the silence between them. 

"What for....? " 

Liam did not know what to say because he himself didn't understand, what he was saying sorry for. 

" You don't have to feel guilty for being in love with someone, Liam ." 

" But that someone loves YOU. Isn't it wrong of me to love him, when he is in love with you....?" he said looking down. 

" No. You are not at the fault in the situation . Actually no one is. " Perrie said. She was still looking ahead. 

" What...? " Liam looks at her in complete shock. 

" Yes. You would have been in one, if you ever tried to break our relationship. Which you never did. "

" No, I would never do that to you guys. " he accepted also looking ahead. 

" Then you should never apologise or feel guilty about anything ever." She finally looked at him. 

" Then what are we doing here, what did you want to talk about ? " Liam looked at her dumbfounded. 

" I brought you here to say thanks to you." 

" Thank me, for what ? "

" For never creating any problems in Zayn and I's relationship. For respecting our relationship. Being there with him and advising him how to make our relationship better, when Zayn and I started to drift apart. For helping him when I was not there for him. For saving me and helping me, the times when Zayn wasn't there. For making our relationship stronger, when your own heart was breaking. For not being the selfish person like people are these days. 

But most importantly being the real you. "

Perrie's cheeks were wet with fresh tears streaming down her eyes and so was Liam's. Liam wiped her cheeks smiling at her,

" I never knew, you loved me this much."

Perrie laughed and swatted away his hand, 

" Shut up...."

" Awww come here, you sweet little thingy...." he cooed at her pink nose and hugged her. 

They stayed like that for a while looking at the children in the park. 

" BTW, I can give you a better offer." she said suddenly pulling out of his arms. 

" What offer...? " Liam was confused. 

" The one Zayn proposed to you last night." 

" Huh...?" 

" Being your boyfriend, you idiot." 

" Oh... You.. heard that." 

"Mhmm and I'm proposing a better one." she said mischievously. 

" What are you talking about and how did you even heard about it, you guys were't even there when he said that." 

" Actually when you exclaimed something about getting him off of you, that's when we heard you from the next room. So we rushed to your room, but when we reached there, we heard you laughing so we stopped and then we heard what he was talking about. And out of curiosity, we both stayed there and kinda did a bit of eavesdropping." she accepted with guilt. " Sorry about that, by the way. " and apologised instantly. 

Liam was shocked, he was looking at her with his eyes and mouth wide open. 

" You.. You.. You guys were spying on us.... " he said and started laughing. 

" Hey.... We were worried about you... "

" oh yeah...? "

" Mhmm... So....? " 

" What ?" 

" Would you like to be my boyfriend....? But don't expect me to do all the cheesy things which that idiot did to you, while proposing." 

"hmmmmm well I don't think that you are good enough then..." he said making a thinking face. 

" Damn it... I knew it, I had to wear something proper to get on my knees to do that." she said and started getting on her knees but Liam stopped her right before she could. And said looking complete baffled. 

" Oh God... You two are seriously impossible. Get back here. " he shook his head, smiling big and embraced her in his arms. They both stayed there for a little while more. 

\--------

Harry and Zayn were sitting in the living area, watching TV. Well only Harry was watching tv and smiling at Zayn, who was nervously biting his nails looking from his wrist watch to the door in anticipation. He was impatiently waiting for the two people. 

" Why the heck they haven't come back yet...?" he said getting exaggerated and stood up to pace around in the room again. 

" Chill mate. She isn't going to murder him, if you are worried about that." Harry said in amusement. 

" Well if she tries to even think about that, I'm going to kill you. "

" WHAT..... What am I have to do with you guys?" he exclaimed. 

" Because you should ha........ "

Suddenly the main door unlocked and in came Perrie and Liam walking behind her, both looking serious. 

Zayn rushed to Liam's side in a flash and asked him, 

" You okay ? Is everything okay ? Do you need anything ? I'll get you some water. " he rambled out and started walking towards the kitchen but Liam hold his hand to stop him. 

" Zayn, we need to talk ?" he said looking worried. Perrie already made herself comfortable next to Harry, and both of them gave each other the creepy smile before her expressions again turned into serious. 

" Yeah, of course. Let's go upstairs. "

" No. I think it's better if we talk about it in front of everyone. So let's just......" Liam walked over to where Harry and Perrie were and took a place on the single sofa. Zayn was now getting more nervous with every passing moment. 

" Perrie... I'm requesting you, please don't do this to him. Can't we just work something out instead of...." Liam pleaded to her. 

" Enough, Liam. I've already made my decision and I'm not going to step back now." Perrie snapped outrageously at him. 

" PERRIE , don't you dare talk to him like that. It was not his fault and you know that. So you bett......" Zayn was warning her but Perrie interrupted him abruptly standing up from the sofa. 

" Of course it's not his fault, it's YOUR fault, Zayn. And that's why I don't want to stay with you anymore. " She exclaimed and suddenly everything became quiet. 

Zayn's eyes widened, shock and hurt was all anyone can explain as his emotions at the moment. 

" Perrie.... Wha.... What are...  you... saying? " and tears suddenly start falling from his eyes. 

Perrie gasped looking at his fallen state and rushed to his side, holding him tight and started kissing his face with each sorry escaping her lips. 

" Oh $hit..... Sorry sorry sorry sorry Baby.... I'm really really sorry... I was just joking, I promise I didn't mean to make you cry... I'm really sorry... I love you so fucking much. I can never leave you, even if you want me to. You are stuck with me for your lifetime. I'm so sorry baby. " 

Zayn's hands were shaking in panic, when he lifted them up and pulled her closer to his chest to make sure she was there. His eyes never stopping the water fall, he closed his eyes and said,

" Don't you ever do that to me ? " he whispered into her neck, and Perrie just nodded her head because she also got emotional.

" You don't know, how much I love you. I can't function myself without you, and you know that really well."

" I know Bubba, I'm so sorry for doing that. I'm such an idiot."

" Yes, you are. You almost killed me. You are the most idiot and stupid girl, I have ever known. I love you so fucking much you little minx. " he squeezed his eyes and nuzzled his face into her neck.

Perrie rubbed his back to make him calm, " You okay ?" she whispered.

" No, I'm not. Because I have the most crazy girlfriend in the world. " at that all of the people standing there laughed. Zayn lifted his up to look at his best friends looking at the couple fondly, and gave them a smile before pulling from the hug.

Perrie looked at his face smiling at him and both of them wiped each other's cheeks before kissing on the lips. 

" I love you, Perrie Edwards and I swear to God I'm going to haunt you in your sleep, if you ever tried to ditch me." Zayn warned her. 

" Oh, but now you have to share me with someone" she wriggled her eyebrows at him and pulled away from him completely.

" What..?"

" Let me introduce you to my new boyfriend, Liam James Payne. Isn't it right, Boyfriend..?" she said walking towards him and put her arms around Liam.

" Yupp." Liam accepted and hugged her close, kissing her head.

" You heard us...?" Zayn said realising everything.

Harry, Liam and Perrie burst into laughter. Then Perrie and Liam explained everything to him taking turns and Zayn couldn't be happier than to know that everything was alright.

" I told you, Zayn, everything is gonna be alright." 

And yeah, Harry was right about that, everything did become alright for all of them after that. Because not only Liam finally got over with his feelings for him but also his relations become stronger than before with all three of them. It was a new start of his life, after......

9 Years.


	8. Little Munchkin

( July 2017, London)   
. 

" WHAT THE FUCK ! " 

The loud voice boomed into the room grabbing everyone's attention towards the source of the voice. Everyone else was looking at the person standing at the threshold of the office, in confusion except for one person, who's brown eyes were wide like saucer. 

"Niall, what happened ? " Louis asked walking towards him. 

" What the heck is he doing here ?" Niall spit the words in anger, pointing a sharp finger at the person who was standing next to the only woman present in the room.

Liam Payne. 

Liam's chocolate brown eyes widened even more if it was even possible and he abruptly try to hid behind Perrie. 

" What, who ?" Louis asked looking to where his finger was pointing. 

" That douchebag, who's trying to hide behind Perrie." Niall was fuming when he spoke and rushed towards the proclaimed 'Douchebag', Liam shrieked when he realized that Niall was coming to get him, and ran around the desk. 

" Come here you, a$$hole." Niall tried to run after him but Liam kept circling the work desk that belonged to Harry Styles. 

" No baby, not right now. " Liam said in a really sweet voice. 

Every person in the room gasped, when the words left from Liam's mouth. It was like a red rag to the bull when Liam said that to Niall. Niall tried to catch him speeding up his steps but Liam never stopped running around the table. Niall's fury was building up by the every passing moment. He picked up a bunch of files those were laid really neatly on the desk, and started throwing them at Liam one by one. A few hit him on his shoulder but mostly, Liam dodged successfully. 

" Don't you fucking dare call me that, you pervert." Niall roared and threw another file at him. 

" But what should I call you than, Honey ? " Liam said pouting his lips when the next shooting file hit him on his shoulder, he tried to rub it better. 

" Liam what are you doing ? " Harry questioned in confusion, finally getting enough of the two and couldn't bare anymore crashing down his office. 

" Oh, nothing Harry, just catching up on where we left earlier. Right sweetheart ? " Liam glanced at Harry casually and then turned to look at Niall with big Cheshire smile. 

Niall snarled and threw the pen holder sitting on the desk next to him, at Liam with full force. But again Liam saved his head successfully by moving to the left. 

" I said don't or I'll.... I'll.... " He looks around at the desk to find some other weapons to threaten the puppy faced man.

" Or I'll staple your mouth with this. " And his next weapon was a stapler, which he pointed towards Liam with firm jerk of hand. 

If looks could kill anyone, Liam probably would have been burried alive when the three words left from Niall's mouth earlier ; 'What the fu¢k ?' 

" Ooooo you're one feisty kitty, aren't you. But I would like YOU to staple my mouth with YOURS. " And seriously ? Is Liam really trying to get himself killed by the most vicious leprechaun ever existed on the planet earth ? 

Perrie who was watching everything with her big blue eyes up till now, shook Zayn's arms excitedly, " I don't know what the heck is going on but it's so fucking entertaining." Zayn looked at him with amused look and turned his attention back to the live entertainment. 

Niall's nostrils flare in anger and his face turned angry red, when he heard Liam. He lunged at Liam over the chair. It was in some way funny how they were reacting, like Tom and Jerry . 

" YOU'RE DEAD ! " Niall exclaimed. 

Liam shrieked in a very manly way and ran away, towards Zayn. 

" Zayn, close the door." Niall called for Zayn, when he noticed that Liam was trying to escape out of the room. 

" But...." Zayn tried to protest with shocked eyes. 

" I said close it, bit¢h. I'm going to hunt this a$$hole down. " but Niall wasn't listening to him. 

As soon as Liam tried to reach to the door, Niall jumped on him and tackled him to the ground. Liam screamed in fear when Niall flipped him on his back and tightened his grip on Liam's neck. 

" I told you to not piss me off, you fu¢king bit¢h, and now I'm going to kill you. " Niall said hovering over Liam's face while sitting on his stomach, his grip firm on Liam's throat. 

" No, let me go you feline. Bad kitty. Guys save me." Liam's eyes were full of fear when he tried to move Niall from above him but he wouldn't budge. 

Louis' eyes widened watching the scene unfolding in front of his eyes. He rushed to the two and tried to pull Niall off of Liam. 

" Niall let him go. "

" No, I'm going to finish him today." 

"No No, you can't do that. I haven't even kissed you yet." Liam said holding Niall's wrists, trying to get his neck free from their grip. 

"Shut up Liam. And Niall please get off of him." Harry said, now standing next to them. 

" No, I'm going to kill him." Niall says struggling in Louis' hold, when Louis somehow managed to get him off of Liam, but Niall again trying to jump on him. 

As soon as Louis got Niall off of him, Liam scrambled away from the ground and hid behind Harry with his brown fearful eyes looking at the Irish leprechaun / kitten's blue eyes, which were already glaring daggers at him. 

" He's such a feisty kitty. " Liam commented from behind Harry. 

Niall growled and tried to get him again but Louis held him back. 

"Niall, calm down ." Louis said to his stubborn friend. 

Meanwhile Zayn and Perrie were watching everything in complete shock, Harry asked Niall. 

" What happened, Niall, care to explain ?" 

" This bastard tried to kiss me." He pointed his finger at Liam, who sulked behind Harry to hide his face in shame. 

" WHAT !" Harry, Zayn, Perrie and Louis gasped together. 

Louis turned Niall around to face him and asked, " He's the one, from the airport ?" 

" Yes." Niall nodded instantly. 

" Wait a minute, what are you guys talking about ? " Zayn asked not getting anything as much like Harry and Perrie. 

" When I went to the airport this afternoon to pick up Mr. Corden's two guests, He tried to kiss me, when he made me fall on my back." Niall explained glaring at him. 

" Hey ....! We crashed into each other and then we both fell. " Liam retorts in hurt voice. 

" Shut up or I'll punch you in the face . " Niall warned through gritted teeth. 

"You're such a feisty kitten. What ? Did the Little Munchkin not get enough food today ?" Liam joked smirking at him. 

All the other four people couldn't control and started laughing at that, and Liam looked at them confused, while Niall was balling his fists on his sides. 

" What ?" Liam asked in confusion. 

" Nialler loves food." Zayn said while still chuckling and Louis stifled his laughter and continued , 

"And apparently, he did not get a chance to eat the lunch today." 

"Awwww my poor little Munchkin. " Liam said and started walking towards him, and Niall sees it as his chance, so he hits him in his croch hard with his right feet. 

" Oh my god !" Liam exclaimed in pain and fell on the floor, holding his throbbing manhood. 

" What....? Does the big doggy's balls got crushed, Hmmmmm...? " Niall mocked him in a baby voice for the earlier, when Liam mocked him for food. 

Everyone else gasped in shock before Zayn, Harry and Perrie burst into laughter, while Louis was trying to control his laugh and feeling bad for the poor guy mewling in pain on the floor. After few seconds Harry and Zayn helped Liam to get up from the floor to sit on the sofa placed next to him. 

" I think it's time for us to go back downstairs." Louis said to Niall. 

" Sure Lou, my work here is done already, anyways . "

Niall said giving Louis a million dollar smile while curling his finger inside and bringing them close to his mouth and blowed air on the nails. He then rubbed them off on the left side of his chest, to show that how proud he was to kick Liam in his balls, and said to Liam . 

" Take care of those balls Mr........" 

"Payne" Louis finished, and suddenly everyone burst into laughter except for Liam, who grumbled something under his breath. 

" What did you say Mr Payne in the balls." Niall said with an evil smirk, raising one eyebrow at him. 

Liam gave him a cheeky grin as the perfect reply popped into his head, and he conveyed it looking at Niall , 

" You better start liking my surname, Munchkin, or how else will you like to call yourself 'Mr. Payne' in the future Hmmm ? ", 

Niall's smile dropped and again he tried to go for him. Liam squeaked but Harry came between them this time to save Liam. 

" Louis, please take him downstairs before he hits my loud mouth brother again." Harry requested to Louis who nods to him, giving him a smile. 

Louis held Niall's left wrist and start dragging him out of there. But before Louis could bring him to the door, Niall turned around and gave Liam the middle finger. 

" I would love that." Liam called out before the door closed behind the two receptionists. 

Harry groaned, rubbing his face and went to the other side of the room, where he had a mini fridge sitting on the corner. He usually keeps some drinks, water in it, but for times like this, he also keeps some cold packs in there. So he takes out one of the ice pack and hands it to Liam , while saying. 

" What's gotten into you ? "

" What..?" Liam asked innocently and sighed in relief when he put the cold pack on his hurting pee-pee. 

"Why did you tried to kiss him ?" Harry asked folding his hand, sitting in front of him on the table. Zayn and Perrie were sitting on the each side of him. 

"Well have you seen him ? He's so gorgeous and those blue eyes, God i love his eyes. I just couldn't control myself, Harry. He's so beautiful." He rambled closing his eyes, picturing the beautiful person. 

" Cheeku, is he the one you were talking about earlier ?" Zayn inquired now sitting upright. 

" Mhmmm" 

Liam hmmms in his dreamy phase as he lays back on the sofa closing his eyes, a smile shining on his soft lips. Harry, Zayn and Perrie looked at each other and smile. 

" Hey, how do you guys know him, does he works here aswell ? " Liam asked suddenly opening his eyes. 

" Yes, he's here since last summer . " Zayn spoke. 

" Oh great, that's awesome. But how he was calling you guys by your names ? I mean are you guys friends or something like that ?" 

" Actually after only two days of him joining Regency, we became friend. He kind of saved Zayn's life. " Harry said. 

Liam's eyes widened and he satup abruptly, wincing at the pain in his lower region. 

" Saved Zayn's life... How, when, what happened and why didn't you guys told me anything about it ?" He exclaimed getting worried. 

" Wow.... did you just used every single interrogative pronouns available, in one sentence ? " Zayn chuckled. 

" Shut up and now tell me, what happened ?" 

" Allright allright. Well I don't remember the exact date but I think it was last year in June, I went to attend some business meeting. When I was coming back from there, my cars breaks failed and I couldn't control it before it got hit by the road divider and flipped upside down before skidding a few feet down the road. "

" What the hell....! And why none of you told me about this before ! " Liam was angry and disappointed in his friend and brother. 

" That's why. Because you always start hyperventilating whenever it comes to any of us. So stop worrying and let me finish. " Zayn said pointing a finger at him. 

" Fine. Go ahead." Liam huffed and folded his hands in front of him, the cold was resting on Junior Liam. 

" Yeah, so when I was trying to get out of my car, Niall saw me struggling and helped me to get out of there, when he was driving by. He himself almost got hit by a car when he was taking me back, to get into his car. But thanks to God that none of us got hurt badly. 

At the time when he saved me, we both had no idea that the other one was work for Regency. But when Harry reached to the hospital, that's when Niall recognized him and told us that he aswell joined the Regency only 2 days ago. So after that day we became really good friend. " Zayn finished telling the incident with a big smile. 

" Wow.... That's really nice of him. " Liam said, smiling to himself. 

" Liam, do you really like him ? " Perrie asked getting serious, sitting beside him. 

" I don't know, Pez. But I think that I want to like him. It's just that I never felt like this before." Liam put his head on Perrie's shoulder and exhaled feeling relaxed. 

" Ouch. That hurt. " Zayn said holding his heart, and all of them chuckled at his fake hurt expressions. 

" Well with you, it happened after 7 years, when we met. So that's that. " Liam said nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders. 

Zayn gasped and said pulling Liam up by his shirt collar " How dare you ? " 

" No no no Mr. Malik, better keep your hands to yourself. My man knows how to knock someone out." Liam mocked him, winking and freeing his collar from Zayn's hands. 

" So your man, Huh....? " Harry said grinning at him. 

Liam looked at him and winked before he started smiling like a fool. 

" Idiot. " Harry, Zayn and Perrie said in sync. 

\----------

A grumpy looking Niall was working on computer at the front desk, while Louis was trying to cheer him up. 

" Niall, c'mon. Forget about him, it was just some healthy flirting, that's all." Louis said, huffing behind him. Niall was giving him a hard time to cooperate with him. 

" Lou, that a$$wipe tried to kiss me. What else do you think I should feel about it, instead of anger ? " Niall said harshly while his fingers were typing frequently on the keyboard. It was difficult to understand, if he was trying to type fast or he was lashing out his anger on the poor keyboard. 

" OK...., so he tried to kiss you, but think of the bright side ." 

Louis said enthusiastically smiling big, showing his pearly whites. Niall rolled his eyes and huffed before getting more angry as he turned to face Louis, harshly. 

" What bright side, Mr. Louis William Tomlinson, care to explain it to me ? " he said folding his arms giving him a creepy fake smile. 

" OK, first of all, wipe off that smile from your face, cause it can scare kids away." Louis said backing away from him a bit. 

Niall again rolled his eyes and turned to the computer before start working on it. 

" So the bright side is that...... he's really sweet and really handsome. And when you were tackling him down to the ground, you looked really good sitting on him, it looked like you were ridin...." 

Niall slapped his hand on Louis' lips before he could complete his sentence and growled with angry eyes. " Don't you dare complete that sentence. "

" But you look really good on top of him. Still I think that you're a bottom. " Louis said cheekily when he pulled Niall's hand off his mouth, and stepped back a few feet from him. Niall turned to him and roared , "Come here you Tiny Tomlinson !" and ran after him, when Louis shrieked and dashed out of the reception with big eyes and crazy smile . 

Before Louis could run further away from Niall, he stumbled upon his own feet and crashed onto someone. Suddenly all of the memories from yesterday, started to rush into his mind.

'No, not again. This is not happening again to me. I just got my job back after almost loosing it and I can't risk it again.' he thought and without looking at the person, he started rambling his apologies. 

"I'm sorry, sir. I- I'm extremely sorry."


	9. "Liar"

(July 2017, London) 

The lift open on the ground floor with a soft ding, and Zayn and Harry stepped out of it making a bee line to the front desk. Harry was laughing at the something that Zayn just said, when suddenly someone crashed into his chest and he stumbled back on his feet. He easily managed to regain his balance and held the person's arm to help them stand still. When he pulled the person back from his chest, he recognized the soft features of the boy named Louis Tomlinson. 

Louis' eyes closed tightly and face scrunched in distress. His hand those were on his side, trembling along with his bottom lip quavering, when started rambling his apologies. 

"I'm sorry, sir. I- I'm extremely sorry." he tried to breathe for a second before he started speaking again. 

" I'm really very sorry, Sir. Please Please Please....." he wasn't even sure why he was so scared and what for he was pleading to the person, standing in front of him ? Was it because he bumped into them or was he afraid of losing his job again . 

His apologies got interrupted when a familiar, deep and raspy voice spoken to him, the soothing sound of the voice made him relax within a second. 

"Louis, it's okay. Open your eyes." 

At the soft request by the person who he recently got to know as his boss, Louis fluttered opened his thick eyelashes that were now visibly wet from the warm liquid gathered inside the pools of his cerulean eyes. The moment his eyes met with the glazing green ones, they started to flood with fresh tears. 

" Louis are you okay, are you hurt ?" Harry's concerned eyes looking deep into Louis' sad ones. 

Louis couldn't reply to his question when the lump in his throat become worse. He barely whispered a little " excuse me" before he sprinted to the washroom leaving a stunned Harry behind. 

For a second Harry was struck in his stunned phase but then he himself found running after Louis. When Niall tried to follow them, Zayn stopped him. 

" Give them some space ." Zayn said holding his arm. Niall looked at him doubting if he should stay or go after his friend, who he knew that probably would be crying now. But when Zayn pleaded, Niall nodded his head and stayed there. 

When Harry entered the washroom he did a little search if anyone else was there except for him and the sniffling sound that he knew really well, was Louis. When he couldn't find anyone else in there, he softly knocked on the only door that was locked. 

" Louis, it's me, Harry. Please open the door." 

Harry could clearly hear the struggle in the sound those were coming from the toilet stall, Louis was trying to control his emotions as the sobs were muffled. 

Louis was biting on his fisted knuckles. 

Harry sighed and voiced his words gingerly, "It's okay Louis, there is nothing to cry about." 

But the sound of Louis' sniffling did not come to an end, and that made Harry yearn to help him even more .

Harry closed his eyes and tried to control his emotions, before he even try to knock the door down to take Louis out from there, and hold him close to his heart until he feels better. But the flashback he got from hearing the sobs, made his heart churne in pain. 

 

* Flashback *

 

(Feb 2014, New York) 

 

Harry was in his house, kneeling outside of the ensuite bathroom in his bedroom. 

" Blake, please baby open the door for me. Even after what happened, I still love you so much, you know that right ?  Please Love, open the door. I'm scared now. I don't want to lose you, B. Please open up, Sweetpea. " 

Hot tears streaming down his face, Harry's heart rate speeding up thinking about the worst. 

" I-I'm really sorry, H-Harry. I know you c-can ne-ver forgive me but-but please Harry, I'm so-so sorry. " Blake's cracked voice came from the bathroom. 

" No No No, baby please don't say sorry. Why are you thinking if it was all your fault ? I know things happened, but what happened that day, it wasn't all your mistake, it was all Drake's mistake. Because of that bastard you got drunk and...... Now we ........ " Harry stopped talking when a sudden gush of gloominess hit him hard. After a few seconds, he regained his composer and said,

" Please Blake, I just want to make it all better now. I want to hug you. We both need to restart our lives with a new chapters. What happened in the past, should stay there."

Even though it was really hard for Harry to get over with what he witnessed and went through 2 weeks ago, but he was willing to give their lives a new start. 

The sound of door being unlocked, made him to come out of his trance and he stood up abruptly, wiping his tears. 

Blake was standing there holding the door knob. Hair desheviled looked like they were tortured to pulled out of their roots. His face blotchy and eyes blood shot red from crying, mirroring Harry's. His bottom lip caged between his teeth to hold him from crying anymore. The sight in front of him was too painful for Harry. 

" Oh God Blake ! Come here my poor baby." Harry expanded his arms for the broken boy standing in front of him, to rush into, which he did immediately. Blake hold on to Harry's torso like his life was dependent on him and started wailing again. 

"I'm so sorry, Harry. I'm so very sorry." Harry hushed him and tried to make him calm, avoiding his own broken heart. 

 

* End of the flashback *

 

Harry's eyes flew open and he gasped, 

"Liar." 

When Harry heard the sniffling sound again this time, his eyes burned in anger and he snapped. 

"Crying is never a solution to anything, Louis. You have to make yourself stronger than crying at every single little thing like a weak person. This crying is just unnecessary. Not every time I will be there to save you from this bad shit world." 

Harry's harsh words made Louis' eyes widened, but specially at the sudden change of tone in Harry's voice. But when he concentrated on the words that were coming out of Harry's mouth, his blood boiled in fury. He wiped his tears a bit roughly and harshly opened the toilet stall door, resulting it to bang on the wooden wall. The sound boomed into the washroom startling Harry. 

Louis looked Harry in the eyes, his own orbs turning into deep blue from all the anger he was experiencing. The words came out of his mouth rather bitter than they were intended to , 

" I never asked to be saved by anyone , Mr. Styles. I'm living on my own since I was 16, so I know how to take care of myself. And about what happened a few minutes ago, when I crashed into you, spontaneously my mind relived what happened yesterday. The fear of losing my job came into my mind and that's what made me cry. It's my way to handle my emotions. So you have no right to say that I'm weak and my tears are unnecessary. I know maybe crying every time never helps but not ever crying also makes you heartless, because you just flush away your emotions in a gutter, instead of feeling something."

Louis was heaving terribly after his ranting. They both continued looking into each other's eyes for a while, challenging the other one, before Harry dashed out of the washroom with a scowl on his face. 

Louis huffed in anger closing his eyes. After few seconds, he walked up to the washbasin to wash off the tears from his face.

Niall and Zayn were standing at the front desk when Harry walked out of the washroom looking rather angry, and instead of stopping for Zayn, he stepped out of the exit. Niall looked at Zayn in confusion and shock, after witnessing Harry that angry for first time. Zayn gives Niall a pat on his shoulder before he too runs after Harry. 

After few minutes when Louis walked out as well, Niall walked to his side immediately and asked, " Lou, what happened, are you okay ? And why did Harry walk out of the washroom looking mad and sprinted off to exit the building, leaving Zayn behind ?", 

"Nothing happened, Niall. Let's just get back to work." Louis said and started scrolling down in the computer. 

Niall frowned and again tried, "But...."

"Please, Niall. " Louis looked at him with pleading eyes to drop the topic, so Niall nodded his and starts working beside him as well . 

Perrie asked the two receptionists walking up to the front desk after a few minutes , with Liam standing a bit away from his predator aka Niall Horan. 

"Hey guys , have you seen Harry or Zayn ?"

Niall looked at Louis and when he doesn't looked up, he turned to Perrie and answered, " They just went outside." he gestured to the exit door. 

"Oh, okay..." Perrie was confused, " Well... did they let you guys know that they are going out to have dinner with us ?"

"No, they didn't. Are any of them coming back to the rehearsal dinner ?" Niall asked. 

"Actually No, But they had a chat with Mr. Corden about it, so it's okay. Zayn left Arthur in charge for the evening. But if anything goes wrong, just give them a call and they will be back in minutes, Okay."

"Ok, that's good.", Niall nods to that. 

" Louis, are you okay ?", Perrie asked to Louis after observing his quiet behavior. 

"Huh ? Oh y-yeah, I'm fine." Louis looked at her and gave her a smile. 

Perrie looks at them for a second before she walked out of the building with Liam hot on heels winking at Niall, who just ignored him. 

\-----

Harry was listening to some music when Zayn got into the car . 

"Seriously Harry, you still listen to him ? He's your best friend and even then you start acting like a complete fan girl, whenever any of his song comes on the radio. " Zayn chuckled as he found Harry bopping his head lightly to the beat of the music. Harry just smiled and continued listening to the song with closed eyes. 

" What happened back in there, Harry ? " Zayn asked. 

Harry opened his eyes and took a deep breath, before he explained him everything. Zayn was about to tell him that he shouldn't have lashed his anger out on Louis like that, but just then Perrie unlocked the back door of the car and both her and Liam took a sit . 

" You jerks, you two were supposed to be waiting for us at the front desk, but you are here listening to him. And none of you told Niall and Louis about us going too. Why, may I ask ?" Perrie rambled as soon as she settled in her seat

"The answer is in your question, Love . We wanted to listen to some song and you two were taking forever. So we ditched you and thought that you will do the work for us ." Zayn shrugged his shoulders and Harry gave him a thankful smile before he brought the car to life and drove away from there. 

\--------

Everything went smoothly for the evening . The four people roamed around the city and took a trip to London Eye. Everyone was enjoying except for Harry, and Zayn could totally understand why . After having dinner together, Zayn and Perrie went to their place after saying goodnight, while Liam went home with Harry. 

When Liam left to go sleep in the guest room, Harry made a bee line to his own bedroom. As soon as Harry entered there, he was in complete silence and loneliness, and suddenly all of the memories and hurt feelings started to fill his mind. He advanced towards the corner of his room and pulled out a bottle of Aberlour 18 years old single malt from the shelf where he kept all of his personal favorite Alcohol, before started chugging on it straight away. The whiskey burned on the way down and he closed his eyes, dwelling on the bitter flavour on his tongue. 

Harry gripped the bottle tightly in his hand, after breaking the contact between the rim of the bottle and his lips. His eyes swiveling towards the back of his head in a distressed sense of a headache. He tilted his head towards the mirror in the room as he again took a long swig of the dark substance that affected him instantly. His wobbly feet took him to the mirror, he looked at himself and couldn't believe what he had become. 

He thought of the days when he used to hate it to get drunk and wasted. He never liked the burning sensation in his throat or the bitter taste on his tongue. But look at him now, after 3 years of that bastard breaking him into pieces, he searches the peace of mind in this slow poison. 

Thinking about him makes him to laugh at himself and cry too. Laugh because, even though his own brother and best friend tried to warn him, he never listened and went after what was only a beautiful pigment of his imagination with a cruel heart in reality . And cry because how could he be so blind to see what kind of a person was Blake, to do this horrendous thing to him. He never thought that Blake would do such a monstrosity. 

Without even realizing, Harry started crying right there standing next to the mirror. His shoulders shaking with every sob. He took another gulp of the liquid contained in the clear glass bottle, gripped between his fingers and palm. 

He knew what he did to Louis was not right at all. He bawled out his anger on the poor boy, who was already going through a tough time. The guilty made him feel like monster himself and as he was about to take another gulp from the bottle, someone stopped him and took away the bottle from his hand. Harry looked at Liam's concerned expression and chuckled, the alcohol started to work in his system , 

" I was such a stupid a$$hole to fall in love with that bastard, wasn't I ." 

Liam looked at him with sad eyes and pulled him in his warm embrace, after putting the whisky bottle down. 

" No, you're not, Pumpkin. He did the wrong thing, not you." Liam said soothing him with his hand running over his spine. Harry stared sobbing, holding him close. His hands gripping on Liam's shirt on the back. 

" I h-hurt Lo-Louis today because of a flashback that I ha-had of that monster, Liam. I-I AM an a$$hole. " Harry hiccuped into Liam's shoulder. 

" Shhhhhh it's okay. Just say sorry to him tomorrow, I'm sure he will understand." Liam said pulling Harry from the hug and cupping his face before wiping his tears. 

" You think ? " Harry asked like a lost and scared kid looking for a ray of hope in the dark night . 

" I don't think because I know. Now c'mon, let's go to bed." Liam said and started walking Harry towards the bed, but Harry stopped and turned to look at him, 

" Would you please sleep in here for the night ? I don't want to sleep alone . Please ? " Harry pleaded squeezing Liam's hand to emphasize his request . 

Liam nodded smiling at him and helped him to get into the bed. As soon as Liam laid back on the bed, Harry cuddled up to him from side. 

" Good night, Cheeku. "

" Good night, Pumpkin. "

Liam looked at him and sighed before pulling him more close before both of them fall into a comfortable slumber. 

It was 2 am and Louis was in his bed. He was twisting and turning around in the sheets, because of the lack of sleep in his eyes. He still couldn't understand what suddenly got into Harry that made him to snap at him like that. Maybe he didn't know Harry that well but he was sure that what he said to him in the washroom was not meant for him. Maybe there was something that triggered him. He kept thinking about the words that Harry said to him, until a restless slumber took over him. It was 6 in morning. 

\----------

(Next Day) 

 

Louis and Niall were standing at the  reception desk that was arranged for the still coming guests to the wedding, at the entrance of the reception hall. 

The wedding ceremony took place at the church that both of the families chose, with only few close relatives invited to the function, around 5 pm . But now it was 9 o'clock in the evening and and it was time for the wedding reception. Most of the guest that were named in the guest list , already made their appearance to the party and a few of them were yet to come . 

Because Niall and Louis were assigned to welcome the guests, they both went to the church as well with Mr. Corden. They both came to work in the noon and took care of their responsibilities very professionally and performed well at their tasks . 

"Allright boys, how many guests do we have left to welcome more ?" Zayn asked coming over to a bit tiered looking boys, Perrie who just joined him for the party, walking beside him . Zayn was also at the Regency since the evening, but he stayed at the reception hall and looked after everything to get ready properly and elegantly for the grand function that was talking place under one roof.  

" 54 more guests are still to come. And I think that with in next hour, they will make their appearances ." Niall replied after checking the guests list on the computer. 

" Allright that's good. Well do you guys had anything before the function start ? Or do you want me to bring you two something ? " Zayn asked looking from Niall to Louis. 

" Obviously I had my evening snack, before the guests started coming or I wouldn't be standing here on my feet ? " Niall scoffed rolling his eyes playfully making the other two chuckle. 

" And what about you Louis, did you eat anything, maybe not as big as Niall's evening snack but still ? " Zayn joked. 

" Watch it, Malik. " Niall pointed a warning finger at Zayn and he held up his hand in surrender looking at him with big eyes. 

" I'm okay, Zayn. " Louis replied giving him a smile. 

" What do you mean, you're okay ? Zayn he didn't eat anything since we get back from the church." Niall retorted. 

" Come on, lets get us something to eat. I am feeling a bit hungry myself." Zayn said gesturing Louis to come out from behind the desk. 

"I'm okay. I'm not hungry that much." Louis tried to deny but Zayn was already dragging him towards the kitchen area. 

As soon as Zayn disappeared into the kitchen, another figure appeared in front of Niall. 

" Hey Niall. How's everything going tonight ?" Harry asked standing in front of him. 

" Oh hello Boss ! Nice suit. And everything is going smoothly." Niall looks at him with his eyebrows quirking in amusement, checking Harry's cloths. 

Harry cleared his throat and fixed his suit jacket feeling nervous about it. 

" You look great, Harry, trust me " someone whispered in his ears from behind him, making Harry smile. He turned around and stepped aside before speaking a bit loud , 

" Thank you, Liam." Harry smirked when Liam's eyes widened as he saw Niall taking a look at him and growled. 

" What the fuck is he doing here ?" 

" Language, Munchkin. And I'm one of the special guest here who happens to be invited yesterday, specially by the Bride's brother , who is one of our good friends. Right Harry ?" Liam said with a bit of confidence this time, because he knew that Niall wouldn't dare to do anything in front of everyone so he took the chance to tease him. 

" Actually yes, Niall. He is one of the guests. " Harry confirmed and Liam grinned a face splitting smile at Niall's annoyed face. 

" Listen to me really carefully, you twat. If you tried to come near me, I swear to God I will chop your balls off, those I crushed yesterday, and shove them down your throat. You understand that." Niall threatened him with anger flashing in his dark blue eyes. 

Liam smile flushed off his face, his eyes widened in fear and his hand spontaneously reached in front of him to cover the body part that just got threatened to cut off. He gulped nervously and nodded his head in rapid pace. 

" Good. Now be a nice guest and enjoy the rest of the event." Niall gave him a fake creepy smile. 

Harry shook his head in amusement and dragged Liam out of there. 

" You know, something is wrong with that feline, I think Munchkin need to be loved , because he's sooooo vicious. " Liam said to Harry after looking back at Niall who may or may not hissed at him. 

" I don't know what you are talking about, but I'm sure that probably all felines hates canines, which according to him, you are. " Harry commented and started laughing when Liam pushed him away. 

" Bugger off, Styles. Let's see how your feline reacts when he sees you in the suit. " Liam said smirking . 

" I hate you for making me wear it and Zayn for asking him about his opinion . " Harry said pouting at Liam, who chuckled and patted his shoulder before they both went in to meet Mr. Corden. 

Earlier that evening when Harry was getting ready for the party he found himself standing in front of his bed , staring at the suit that was laying on the bed. When Liam came to check on him if he was ready or not, he found Harry standing like that and he asked the reason. So Harry explained him everything about Zayn and Louis choosing the suit for him. Liam encouraged him to wear it, not only for Louis but also for Zayn. So Harry said yes to it. 

-

After a while, Louis and Niall were checking the list of the people who were yet to come, when Zayn reached to them. 

"Hey Louis, have you seen my friend that was supposed to come and for whom we chose that suit for ? " Zayn said glancing at Harry who was standing a bit far away from there, from the corner of his eyes. Zayn already knew that Louis was still to see Harry, because Harry said himself that they haven't met yet. 

" umm I don't think any of the guests came yet wearing that suit, at least not in front of my eyes ." Louis said thinking about it. 

" Actually he already arrived here, that's why I asked you, because I wanted to check if you liked the suit on him or not." Zayn asked nonchalantly. 

" Well I'm sure that it will look really good on him. " Louis replied with a smile. 

" What are you guys talking about ? " Niall asked, obviously confused. 

" Zayn chose a suit for his friend and his friend thought that the suit was not good enough. But than Zayn asked my advice and I agreed with his choice. Now his friend has come to the party wearing the same suit. " Louis explained. 

Niall nodded understanding, curling his lips in the shape of O. 

" Well... Louis would you do me a favor and get these papers signed by Mr. Corden, for me ? He's standing there. " Zayn pointed to where James and Harry were standing. 

But a pillar was hiding Harry completely from Louis' sight. Louis looked at the direction and nodded before taking the papers from his hand. Zayn gave him a thankfull smile and walked away, probably to hide behind a pillar from where he could watch the entertaining stuff happening . 

Louis walked up to Mr. Corden who was talking to someone, but he couldn't see their face because the person was standing behind the pillar. 

" Excuse me, sir. Mr. Corden." Louis tried to grab his attention. 

" Oh hello, Louis." James said looking at him now. 

" Sir, Mr. Malik asked me to get these papers signed by you." Louis said offering the file to James. 

" Oh yeah, I was just talking about these papers to Harry, here. Thanks for bringing them to me." James said started looking through the file after taking it from his hand. 

Louis' heart started beating fast after knowing that the person who was standing behind the pillar was Harry. He was definitely nervous about facing him, after what happened yesterday. But what made his heart jump out of his ribcage and eyes bulge out of their sockets, when he saw what Harry was wearing, when he came out from behind the pillar. 

Louis stared at Harry dumbfounded, as he was a ghost or some kind of wonder. He could just imagine the sparks in his brain, desperately trying to connect the dots about the fact, Harry wearing the exact same suit which he chose for Zayn's friend. But right then staring in Harry's sparkling eyes, he couldn't work his mind and fix the connection, instead just caused a short circuit.

Louis looked like a pop-eyed toy from one of those claw machines at the fun fair. Perfectly funny. He was frozen for maybe three whole minutes before the corners of his mouth resumed their usual softness and his eyes quit staring. He turned to look to the side. 

Both of their eyes locked, when Harry came into the view. The soft expressions of only a few seconds ago, evaporated from Harry's face looking at the boy with blue eyes. Harry held his gaze, but instead of the warmth of a friendly behaviour, it was with an icy hostility.

After a few seconds Louis turned his head to Harry. He spoke with the same robotic tone Harry had heard him use with guests at the hotel. "Good evening, Mr. Styles." And with that he made an unnatural turn to the left that allowed his gaze never to meet Harry's. 

"Good evening, Mr. Tomlinson." 

Louis could hear the pride and arrogance in his voice, when Harry wished him back, and that hurt him. Last night he thought, maybe it was just a mistake or maybe Harry was in a bad mood to lash out on him like that, but now he understood that he was just being a prick. Louis never looked back at him and after taking the file back from James, he left without another word being spoken from each of them . 

Harry closed his eyes and cursed himself for behaving like an a$$hole to Louis AGAIN. He was supposed to be apologizing to the boy but instead he maybe insulted him even more. But it wasn't his fault that he was keeping his walls up strong, he had a really bad experience with trusting people. And with Louis it was totally different from what he felt with Blake ; much stronger. If he again fell in love with another boy, specially a boy with beautiful piercing blue eyes, and that boy broke his heart, Harry would definitely be crushed to death.


	10. "I Promise."

(July 2017, London)   
. 

Zayn, who was watching everything from where he was hiding behind a pillar, frowned in confusion after witnessing Louis walking away from there, wiping under his eyes. He was sure that after his and Liam's lecture that afternoon when Harry woke up from his sleep, was good enough to knock some senses into his mind, but it seemed like it wasn't. He inhaled through his nose and exhaled from his mouth a few times to control his temper. He was going to kill Harry for making the poor boy cry. 

Zayn was feeling more guilty about it, because he was the one who asked Louis' opinion on the suit. And now when Louis just confronted Harry wearing that suit, but instead of thanking him, Harry reacted like a piece of $hit, Louis would be feeling like a fool. He shook his head in disappointment and walked towards where Harry was standing with James. 

As soon as Harry's eyes catched Zayn coming towards him, he tried to run away from there, because he knew what was coming next, with the looks on Zayn's face. But before he could, James excused himself and walked away to take the call, when his phone started ringing. 

"$hit." Harry mumbled under his breath and started to walk away but not before Zayn called for him. 

" Don't you fu¢king move your ass from there, Styles, or I swear to God, I will beat the shit out of you." Zayn growled and swung Harry around holding his upper arm, before dragging him to the quiet part of the hall, where there was no audience . 

" Z, listen....." 

" And don't you dare 'Z' me, ok. I know what you did. I saw with my own eyes, Louis walking away from there wiping his eyes. " Zayn's face red from the amount of frustration that was pooling inside his brain. 

" What ?" Harry's eyes widened and flicked to look behind Zayn, to the entrance of the Hall where Louis was standing, obviously with hurt expression covering his features. 

" Yes, he cried and who wouldn't ? He was obviously going to say sorry to you for his behavior yesterday. But I don't know what the heck you did to make him cry. I thought you promised me and Liam that you were going to apologise to him, but again you fu¢ked up." Zayn said glaring at Harry with his hands balled in fist beside him. Harry was looking at the ground, not daring to look at him. 

" How.... How do you know that he was going to apologize ? " Harry whispered, still looking down. 

" Because he himself told me." Zayn barked, getting out of patience. 

"What, when ?" Harry's head snapped up in shock. 

" When I came to work in the evening, he apologized to me and said that he was really overwhelmed by all the incidents that happened in the last two days, and because he got scared when he found himself in the same situation again. Then he asked me, what time you were going to come at the party, because he also wanted to apologize to you for the way he behaved in the washroom. He was going to say sorry, Harry ; even though it was your fault. That's how he really is. Louis is nothing like him. You need to get over from your past. " Zayn said holding him with his shoulders, looking at him with sad and worried eyes. 

Harry once again looked behind him at Louis, this time making eye contact with him. But as soon as the connection made , Louis averted his eyes to the other side. Harry sighed closing his eyes and opening them after a few moments. He nodded before he started speaking. 

"OK, I promise. And this time I'm going to keep it. I will apologise to him." He looked at Louis then to Zayn and smiled .

Zayn's lips twitched upwards in a big smile and he engulfed him in a warm hug. 

"He's a great guy, Harry." Zayn said into his shoulder, rubbing his back. 

Harry nuzzled his face into Zayn's neck and nodded, before once more looking up at Louis and catching him already watching towards them in confusion. 

-

Everytime when Harry walks by, Louis couldn't refrain himself from looking at him. It doesn't matter if he spies at Harry by the corner of his eyes or hiding behind Niall. He always finds a way to ogle the man with short brown curls and define jawline. 

The mint green Givenchy suit was tailored to precisely match the contours of Harry's body, with matching turquoise shirt, giving him a enthralling appearance. The suit was looking dashing on him and well-fitted. Exactly the sort of thing that Louis would pick out for him if he knew he was choosing the suit for Harry. 

And yeah, Louis did choose the suit for him. While he was sitting in front of Harry without any clue that he was in fact choosing it for him. And now he cursed himself, when he remembered how he and Zayn made fun of Harry, having him right in front of his face. That was something made him a bit more nervous to face him again . 

But still, the suit looked alluring on Harry , it made him look very handsome, and whenever Louis catches Harry smiling at something while talking to others, it was a little bit magical. He was definitely looking like a prince . Harry was radiating the air of quiet confidence, but Louis detected no arrogance in his demeanour. All eyes in the party must have been more than one time lingered on Harry, and thinking about that made Louis amused. He was happy that he didn't agree on a different suit with Zayn. 

Thinking about it, now he remembered that he should pull Zayn's ears to put him in a situation like this. Zayn tricked him to choose suit for Harry and made him look like a complete fool in front of him. 

-

Niall was checking something on the computer when Grace appeared next to him.  

"Hey Niall ! What are you doing ?" she chirped happily bouncing on her toes, her beautiful baby blue flower girl dress bouncing as well. 

Niall looked at her, a face splitting smile appeared on his face. 

"Hey there Miss Grace aka The most beautiful flower girl in the world." 

Grace giggled when he said that. 

" Are you finished yet ? I want you to meet one my friend who came today." she said giving a million dollar smile with a hopeful look. 

" Yes, I am done with my work. But still there are a few guests of yours, who have yet to come. So would you please wait for a minute for me, till someone else gets here to take my place ? " Niall asked tapping at her nose lightly. Grace giggled and nodded her head before going back to her mother who was standing a few feet away from them. 

As soon as one of Niall's colleague, Drake, took his place at the desk, Grace was pulling him away through the crowd inside the party. 

" There he is. Niall, would you please pick me up ?" Grace said after seeing the person in front of her eyes. 

Niall picked her up in his arms and made his way to where Grace was pointing to. As soon as they reached to the person, Grace was looking for, she put a tiny finger on her own lips, quietly telling Niall to not make any sound. Niall chuckled and motioned to zip his lips and threw away the key. Grace turned around and wrapped her dainty hands around the person's face, closing their eyes. He was standing in front of them with his back facing Grace and Niall. 

The guy tapped blindly over Grace's hands and said, " Hmmmmm who might be this person with such small hands ? Must be someone who has the most tinzy hands than anyone else in here." 

Grace gasped and pulled her hands back to her, folding them over her chest with a scowl on her face. Niall chuckled hearing what the man said and watching Grace's reaction, both. 

The man turned with a smile on his face but all of a sudden he went pale and his eyes widened in surprise. 

" Niall ?" Liam gasped and took a step back to keep himself away from the might be upcoming beatings. 

Niall's smile turned into a scowl when he saw his face. " What the...." 

" Liam, you know him ? And Niall, do you know, Liam ?" Grace looked between the two looking confused, forgetting about his grumpy self after watching their interaction. 

" Yes, Gracy. I know Niall." Liam said now looking a bit relaxed 

" Niall, do you know Lili as well ?" she asked now looking at him. 

" No." Niall said and looked away. 

" Awwww Munchkin, don't be like that. You know me really well, don't you." Liam said cooing at Niall's pouty face. 

" Don't call me that. I told you so many times before. " Niall glared at him. 

" Wait a minute, if you don't know him then how come you talk to him before ? And what is so wrong about calling you, Munchkin ? It's really cute and suits you." Grace said looking all cute in her innocence. 

" Aww thanks Gracy. See, Gracy too thinks that the name suits you. Now it's official. " Liam said caressing Grace's cheeks. 

" Grace, Love, I'm sorry. But I have to go back to work now, so are you coming with me or staying here with him." Niall said avoiding Liam's pouty face. 

" But Niall..... " Grace start to protest but Niall stopped her. 

"Grace, please...." he pleaded to the little girl who was in his arms. 

" OK fine. But I'm going to stay here. Mommy made me promise, either I stay with you or Liam, but as you are going to get busy, I'm staying with Liam." Grace said with sad face and turned to look at Liam. 

" I'm sorry, Love." Niall said kissing her cheeks before handing her over to Liam. 

" Niall, it's okay. I won't tease you. Just stay for her. She definitely wants to be with you right now. " Liam said sincerely this time, looking at Niall with serious face. 

Niall looked from him to Grace, who's face was hidden in Liam's neck, obviously sad. Niall sighed and rubbed his face before looking at Liam sternly, " Don't make me regret this and do what I did to you yesterday, or I swear, I will fulfill my promise that I made when you came to the party." 

Liam smiled and nodded, before Niall pulled Grace back into his arms. " Alright, miss flower girl, let's have some fun, eh. " Niall said and the other two cheered, before making there way to where the little play area was organised for all the kids that came to the party. 

-

Louis was working on the computer to finally calculate how many guests had come to the party and make a list of the people who did not, at the request of Mr. Corden. He was scribbling down the names on paper when Zayn approached them with a bit of tipsy Perrie hanging over his shoulder. 

" Hey Lou, I think I'm going to leave now. Perrie here, had too much of drinks with weird name." Zayn said adjusting Perrie on his shoulders. 

" POP MY CHERRY, ZAYN !!!"   Perrie exclaimed the name of the Cocktail she had and started licking his earlobe. 

Louis' eyes widened and he pursed his lips to control his laughter, when Zayn tried to cover her mouth. 

" Perrie ! Shut up." Zayn whisper shouted at her and looked back at Louis, when Perrie pouted her lips and looked away grumbling something under Zayn's hand. Zayn shook his head in defeat. 

"Please, Lou." Zayn requested. 

"Ok ok. But who's gonna be in charge then ? I mean the party is still going to take 2-3 more hours before the lights go off." Louis asked. 

" Wait a minute, let me solve that problem." Zayn said and fished his phone out of his pocket. 

" Hey, Could you please come to the entrance of the hall ? Yeah okay. " Zayn said on the phone and again put his phone back in his pocket. 

" Perrie, stop." Zayn said sternly to Perrie, who was poking her wet pinky into Zayn's ear, after licking it with her tongue. 

" No." she said stubbornly and tried to lick Zayn's earlobe, but Zayn put his hand on her mouth again. 

" How many drinks she had ? " Louis asked amused while writing names on the paper. 

" Eight." Zayn said struggling to keep her steady as she started to get droopy. 

" What ? That's a lot of....." Louis' stopped talking when he saw Harry coming towards them. He dropped his eyes back to the paper and started working, not acknowledging him. 

" Hey Zayn, what's wrong ?" Harry asked, awkwardly looking between the said person and Louis. 

" Harr......" 

" HARRY !!!  POP MY CHERRY !!!"  Perrie exclaimed excitedly and threw herself on him before she started giggling . 

All of the the three pairs of eyes widened in shock. Zayn and Louis looked at Harry's flushed face, but when they couldn't control themselves any more, they burst out in fits of laughter. Both of them doubled over the desk due to laughing so much. All the while Harry was holding up a snoring Perrie over his chest. 

When Zouis finally got their calms back, they turned to look at Harry who was looking down with a shy smile on his face. Harry looked up at Louis, who was already looking at him with pink cheeks after the amount of how much he laughed, and he brushed his hand through his hair to distract himself from melting in front of Louis.

Louis looks down still smiling, when Zayn starts talking to Harry. All the time when Zayn was explaining him everything, Harry was sneaking glances at Louis from the corner of his eyes. Zayn noticed that and pulled him on the side, out of Louis' hearing range. 

" Listen to me, Harry . I know it's been quite a bad experience for you to believe in people. But trust me on this, Louis is a really good guy. Yeah, I've said this so many times before, but because it's a fact. So please apologise to him. And take it as advice, warning or threat, but I want this to be done with in next 24 hours. I don't know how will you do it, but I just want it to get fixed. Alright ? "

Zayn gave him a narrow look, at which Harry nodded his and looked at Louis, 

" I Promise. "

With that Zayn left with Perrie in his arms, in bridal carry. Harry fixed his suit jacket and nervously started walking towards Louis, 

" Umm... L-Louis, do you have my number saved in your phone ?" Harry asked, cursing himself at stuttering. 

Louis looked up with big eyes suddenly, acknowledging his presence, 

" No, I don't think so, Mr. Styles." he said remembering the time when Harry called him but he was too overwhelmed with himself to save the number before it got self-deleted from the list. 

" Oh... Well... here, let me give you a call and you can save it. It'll be easy for you to have my number if something comes up with the work here." Harry said and took out his phone, eyebrows frowning in a bit disappointment when Louis said that he didn't have his number. 

Harry gave Louis a call and then asked him to save it. Louis saved his number right away by the name of " Mr. Harry Styles. ", Harry smoothly peeked at the phone, taking advantage of his hight. 

" I'll let you know, if we need your assistance for anything important." Louis said looking at him. 

Harry was about to say something but Louis already started working on the computer. Harry's lips pouted when he realized how Louis was trying to avoid him. So he thought about letting it slip for the times sake and apologize to him later. 

He walked away from there in disappointment, not looking back. But he did not see that Louis did look up and watched him walking away from there, and also felt his regret. Louis was being stubborn and he knew that. 

-

Party was going beautifully, maybe a couple of guests left but the bride and groom were still enjoying the night in each other's arms, dancing on the beat of slow jazz. The fairy lights above their heads and ice fog floating around there feets making a dreamy atmosphere. 

Louis was now inside the party, after when James asked him to come and join the celebration because all of the expected guests already arrived. He was standing in a corner beside Niall, both of them chatting about the arrangements and beautiful newly wedded couple. The twinkle in Louis' eyes was more than enough for Harry to understand how much weddings meant to him, as he was standing a few feet away from them on the other side of the hall, along with Liam. 

In Harry's eyes, Louis had a kind of understated beauty, perhaps it was because he was so disarmingly unaware of his gorgeousness . His golden skin was completely flawless. He was all about simplicity, making things easy, helping those around him to relax and be happy with what they have. Perhaps that is why his skin glowed so much, it was his inner beauty that lit his eyes and softened his features. When he smiled and laughed, Harry couldn't help but smile along too, even if it was just on the inside. To be in his company was for Harry to feel that he too was someone, that he had been warmed in summer rays regardless of the rainy season.

His emotions were not easily hidden on his innocent face. His natural blush was evident on his high cheekbones and the down-curve of his pink lips. His eyes. His eyes showed his soul. They were a deep pool of emotions, an ocean of hopes and dreams. As Harry looked into his eyes he knew, all the beauty of the universe could not even hope to compete with this simple thing: happiness . Happiness could turned his eyes into orbs of the brightest fire, and in them he could read clearly that Louis would fight to the very last tear for his life. He would not let the world break him. Sure he could cry, but he would never let them take his true self from him. He clung to it with happiness . Happiness that made him beautiful.

Liam, who was standing right next to him from past couple of minutes now, couldn't contain it anymore and nudged him.

"Always so obvious." Liam said making Harry blush at being caught. He looked away to where the couple were dancing. 

" Just do what your heart wants, Harry. For once, listen to it." Liam said looking at him sincerely. 

Harry's smile dropped from his face and he looked back at Liam, 

" That's what I'm afraid of, Liam. Because my heart wants HIM ." 

"Then why are you stopping yourself ?" Liam was confused. 

" Because the last time when my heart desired for someone, that someone tore me apart. He took away the most precious thing I could ask from him. I gave him the world, I put my heart at his feet, and what he did ? He crushed it under his feet being the most selfish person ever walked on earth and snatched away something that belonged to me. " 

Harry's eyes were glistening. All of the emotions were coming back to him like hurricane . He was feeling like a person who's saviour was standing in front of him but the dark shadows of his past making a mountain high barrier between him and his saviour. 

He walked away from there wiping his eyes, probably to control his feelings for the moment. Because he was still at work and he still had responsibilities and to look after everyone else. He can not break now. But the little did he know that Louis saw his tears and sensed his fallen demeanor. And he was definitely going to talk to him about it. 

-

It was almost midnight when the wedding reception was over. Every other guest who came to the party from within the London, made their way back to home. And rest of the guests those were staying at the Regency rushed to their rooms, when the sleep start to take over their senses. Bride and Groom already left for their honeymoon in Jamaica, an hour ago. Liam also said good night and took a room key from the reception to stay in for the night, if Harry needs his help for something. 

By the way, he kept his promise to not tease Niall for the night and wished him good night with a smile, receiving a "Good night." in return. But he was on good behavior for only tonight cause from tomorrow, it's a new dawn it's a new day. 

It was almost 2 in the morning, Harry was talking to one of the shift managers, when a nervous looking Niall rushed to his side. Harry looked at him creasing his eyebrows in concern, he bid goodbye to the person he was talking to and asked Niall, 

" What happened, Niall ?" 

" It's Louis, I couldn't find him anywhere." he said. 

" What ? What do you mean, you couldn't find him ?" Harry asked, now giving him all of his attention. 

" He was feeling a bit tired and said he had a bad headache, because he didn't get proper sleep last night. So I gave him some advil. Almost an hour ago he complained about feeling dizzy, so I told him to take a seat somewhere and when he feels better, he can come back. But he hasn't yet. I've searched everywhere, I can't find, Harry. I'm scared. " Niall was almost in tears. 

" OK ok don't get worked up yeah. We'll just take a few people more and search for him. Have you tried his phone ? " Harry said calming himself down as well , because in the pits of his stomach a fear started to erupt. 

" It's off, I've checked it." Niall shook his head as they made their way to the hall where the party was. 

Harry himself tried to call him but it was off. Harry called a few more people and started searching everywhere. He called at the reception in the Regency to ask if Louis was there. But the answer was no. So that means he was still in the party hall. 

After few minutes of searching, Harry was going to call one of his friend who knows how to track a number even if it was off, when he saw a pair of feet peeking behind a double sofa on the floor . Harry advanced towards the sofa with fast steps and what he witnessed in front of his eyes, made his face frown and smile together. 

Louis was laying on his stomach with his hands tucked under his face. His jacket was peeled off from his torso and crumbled beneath his upper body, making a obstruction between the floor and his face. His face calm as a baby, features soft as a flower . Small poof of air escaping from his slightly parted lips, indicating that he was in a deep slumber. 

Harry crouched down beside him, the smile never leaving his face as he couldn't take his eyes off of Louis' beauty . He flicked his eyes from Louis' face to his phone to dial Niall's number and again flickered them back at Louis. 

" Niall, dismiss the search. I've found him. Come to the end of the hall where all the double sofas are, next to the washroom exit." He disconnected the call and tucked his phone back in his suit jacket. 

With in next five seconds Harry saw Niall rushing towards them. He waved his hand to motion him to come over to where he was . 

" What the.... Is he dead ? " Niall asked the stupidest question with his eyes wide, sitting down next to Harry. 

"Niall, seriously ? He isn't dead. He's sleeping. Can't you see ?" Harry scolded him. 

" Oh yeah he is. Thank God. I don't want to become the reason for someone's death." Niall said and chuckled to himself. 

"Would you quit acting like an idiot ? Try to wake him up." 

"Okay okay, you don't have to be so bossy about it. I wonder why he is sleeping on the floor ? " Niall rolled his eyes at him. 

"Just wake him up, Horan. We don't know for how long he's been sleeping there, I don't want him to catch cold." Harry said frowning his face in concern. 

Niall called Louis' name but he got no response, so he shook Louis' shoulder but again no response. Finally he shook him with a little force and exclaimed his name out loud . 

" Louis Tomlinson, wake up ! "

" Nooooo.... 'em seep. 'on wanna 'akeup. " that's what the sleeping beauty mumbled before he turned his face away and fell asleep again. 

Niall huffed and looked at Harry who was looking at Louis with so much fond his eyes that his whole face was blushing. Niall's eyebrows quirked in interest and he coughed to make his boss realise that he had caught him staring at his sleeping friend and his own colleague. 

Harry's eyes widened and he cleared his throat awkwardly, 

" Ermmmm..... What should we do now ?" Harry asked not looking at Niall, before removing his own suit jacket and draping over the sleeping figure . Niall raised his eyebrows at him for the action. 

" What.....? He was shivering." Harry retorted. 

" I didn't say anything. " Niall said holding his hands up in defence. 

" Yeah right." Harry grumbled and took out his wallet before he started withdrawing each plastic card from inside it. 

" What are you doing ? " Niall asked in confusion. 

" I was looking for this. " Harry said showing up a plastic key card. 

" Is it the key to your suite here at the Regency ?" Niall knew that Harry has a room reserved under his name for 24 x7, in case of any emergency. 

" Yes, it is. Now tell me, can you carry him to there ? " Harry asked as he pocketed his wallet back. 

" Dude that's on the top floor. I can't even walk on my own legs right now , how do you suppose me to carry him up there."  

" Oh....." 

" But you can carry him. I mean if you won't mind. But I can totally call someone from the staff to........" 

"NO !" Harry exclaimed , interrupting Niall in the middle. 

" What, No ? The you won't carry him, No? Or I won't call someone to help, No ?" Niall asked looking amused at Harry's sudden change of behavior. 

" I'll carry him." He said and passed the key card to Niall. 

When Niall nodded and stood up, taking a step back, Harry looked at Louis for a few seconds before he slowly flipped him on his back, putting his left arm under his neck. Louis grumbled something in his sleep and nuzzled into Harry's arm. Harry looked up at Niall like asking for permission to pick him up. Niall gave him a nod and gestured to the guy, sleeping without any tension in the world. Harry breathe out and snaked his right hand under Louis' knees before easily hoisting him up in his arms. For Harry it was not as much of shock as he thought, Louis being this lightweight . Because Louis was in fact such a tiny furrball. 

When Harry stood up and adjusted Louis in his arms, like a little kitten, Louis nuzzled his face under Harry's chin and sighed in content, holding Harry's jacket close to his heart . Harry looked down at him and spontaneously a fond smile appeared on his lips. 

Maybe he should listen to his heart one last time. 

Niall was watching everything with keen interest. " Shall we ?" he said gesturing to the exit after picking up Louis' jacket from the floor, getting Harry out of his thoughts. Harry looked at him and gave him a curt nod before he started walking. 

When they reached to the assigned room, Niall opened the door with the key card and let Harry inside first. Niall closed the door behind him and helped him with the bedroom door as well. Very slowly and gently, Harry put Louis on the bed and adjusted a pillow under his head. Louis instantly turned to his side and curled up in bed, holding the jacket close to his heart, when Harry tried to took it from his grip. Harry's raised his eyebrows in surprise and looked at Niall. 

" He always sleeps like this, if he's alone in the bed. And if there is another person sleeping beside him, then they had to struggle through his cuddling sessions throughout the night." Niall chuckled and put Louis' jacket on the chair, sitting in the corner. 

Harry's eyebrows frowned and suddenly he asked the question, but regretting the very next second looking Niall's amused face. 

" How do you know, he does that in his sleep ? " 

Niall chuckled and patted his shoulder coming to him and said while untying Louis' shoes. 

" Calmed down, Mr. Possessive. He stayed a couple of times at my place, when he wasn't feeling like to go back to his apartment, after when we hung out at my place . "

Harry felt heat rushing through his cheeks, he awkwardly cleared his throat and said to change the topic. 

" You can change your clothes if you want to. There are couple of fresh pajamas in the closet. " Harry draped the duvet over Louis' sleeping self. 

" Thanks, but I think I'm going to head home." Niall said. 

" No, you're staying here for the night. It's already 2 in the morning and you are also as tired as him. So it's better if you sleep here. I am not going to risk your life by letting you drive in the middle of the night on your own, when it seems like, you are two seconds away from passing out. " Harry said sternly and himself took out a fresh pair of pajamas from the closet . 

" But, Harry..... "

" No buts. Here, change your clothes. And also, do you want me to send some food for you two, in case you guys get hungry in the night ? " Harry asked handing over the clothes to Niall. 

" Thanks, but I don't think once my back will hit the mattress, I'm going to get up before the noon tomorrow and I that goes for Louis as well. But still if we somehow managed to wake up and feel hungry, we'll order some right then." Niall replied giving him a thankful smile. 

" Allright, I think I'm going to go and handle the other things now. Have a good night, Niall. " Harry said and started walking towards the door but Niall stopped him. 

" Harry. "

Harry turned around and looked at him curiously. 

" I don't know what happened between you two yesterday and I'm not asking you to explain it too. But don't get him wrong, when he gets anxious about loosing his job. Which I think, what happened yesterday. He has his reasons to feel insecure, when it comes to his job. So please. " Niall said in low voice so that the only two can hear not the person sleeping behind them in a sweet slumber. 

Harry kept looking at him for a few seconds in confusion to understand why Louis was so insecure about his job ? He was a great employee to the company. Ever since he joined, not a single mistake he made. Infact he himself checked his records. 

" Why is he so afraid, Niall ? What happened ?" Harry asked. 

" That's not my place to tell you. But if Louis wants you to know, he will tell you himself." 

Harry nodded to himself looking back at Louis. 

" Thanks for helping him by the way. Today and that day as well. " Niall said looking at Louis. 

Harry turned to look at him and gave him a smile before spreading his arms for him. Niall showed him a bright smile as well and walked into his arms. 

"Thank you, Niall." 

"What are you thanking me for, you idiot ?" 

" I don't know.... just.... Everything. After Liam, Zayn and Perrie , it's only you that I can call my best friend." 

" Jeez, someone's getting emotional today. But I'm happy too that I found myself a few good friends in you, Zayn and Perrie . " Niall said and pulled back from hug. 

" What about, Liam ? " Harry smirked playfully. 

" Don't take his name right before I go to sleep. I hate him. I don't know how you two could be friends with that kind of creep, let alone you being his cousin ? Seriously." 

Harry laughed, " He's a really nice guy, Niall. "

" Oh yeah. Well, where did he sell his manners to get some money to get all of those awful tattoos on him ? "

" Seriously Niall ? Tattoos ? You are as idiot as him. I'm sure, you two will be good for each other." Harry said chuckling. 

" All right, Styles, get out of here before I kick you out myself. " Niall threatened. 

" OK ok, I'm going. Good night, Ni. Take care of each other, yeah ? "

" Don't worry about your Mr. Tomlinson, he will be as good as new in the morning. " Niall said with a knowing look on his face. Harry shook his head and walked away from there smiling at him. 

" Good Night, Niall. "

" Good Night, Harry. "


	11. "17 Black."

( July 2017, London)   
. 

Louis was sleeping in a sweet dreamless slumber, when some kind of sound rang through his ears. He tried to muffle it with the pillow pressing over his head and it did stop, but after a few seconds it went on again. Louis pulled the blanket over his head and tried to escape from the irritating sound, but the next voice that fell upon his ears, made his head pop out under the blanket. 

He heard the voice again, it seemed like someone was calling his and Niall's name ? 'Why on earth someone would look for Niall at his apartment ?' he thought to himself. But right then his confusion got cleared as a slow grumble heard from behind him. He looked back and found Niall sleeping there on his stomach.

Louis' face frowned in confusion and then he looked around in the room and realized that it wasn't his room. 'Probably Niall just took him back to his own apartment. ' that's what he thought before again he stuffed his face into the pillow. But not more than a second later, the same sound rang through the room again, followed by someone calling Niall's name. He whined into the pillow and slowly tried to get down from the most comfier bed he ever laid on. But instead of getting out of the bed like a civil person, he slipped down and fell down on the floor. 

"Fu¢k." as soon as his elbow hit the ground, the first word of the day, escaped from his mouth. 

He got up from the floor almost strangling himself while trapping his tie under his palm. "Why the heck I'm still wearing my tie ?" he grumbled and pulled the piece of clothing off of his neck before throwing it on the bed. He started making his way to the main door, closing the bedroom behind. 

Louis' eyes were still half lidded when he walked to the main door and opened his one eye to find the door knob before twisting it to open the door. 

" What ?" He said to the person who was standing in front of him, without looking at him but yawning . 

" Good morning !" Harry wished with a smile on his face, fond in his eyes visible. 

As soon as Louis heard his voice, his eyes widened and he looked at him. And just like that, he shut the door on his face. 

" $hit.... What the heck is he doing here ? " he murmured to himself in shock closing his eyes . 

" Ermmm Louis? You okay in there ?" Harry again knocked on the door, confused that why sudden he got a door slammed on his face. 

Louis' eyes widened when he realized what he did, " $hit." He slowly turned the knob and opened the door again, not looking at him. 

" Are you okay ?" Harry asked. 

" Y-yeah." he was standing there holding the door, not looking at him at all. 

"If you don't mind, may I come in ?" 

" Huh ? Oh yeah, please. Sorry." Louis looked up and frantically moved out of his way. 

" It's okay. Just woke up ?" Harry asked looking back at him.

His white shirt's top button was open and the back of his shirt was almost out of where it should be tugged in his pants. The sleeves of the shirts were rolled up till his elbows, showing of the ink work. All in all he was looking really handsome, making Louis go weak in the knees.

" I hope I didn't disturb your sleep ? It's 12 in the noon so I thought...... " Harry trailed off. 

" WHAT !" Louis exclaimed and looked at his wrist watch before he started panicking. 

" Hey hey, it's okay. It's obviously you two's off today. So don't worry about it. " Harry calmly said. 

" Sorry, I just don't want to.... "

" Loose your job. I understand. " Harry completed looking at him in the eyes. Louis looked down. 

" Go get fresh. All the toiletries are in the bathroom. There are new toothbrushes in the cupboard. Just ask me if you couldn't find anything." 

" How - how do you know that ?" Louis asked obviously confused. 

Harry smiled at him, " It's my room." 

" What ! I'm at your house ? " Louis exclaimed again widening his eyes like the 20th time that day. 

Harry cringed at the high pitched voice and said, "OK, you need to stop doing that before I get deaf. And no, this is not my house, this is my room that I have reserved for myself here at the Regency, if I ever get late while working or just don't want to go back home." 

" Wait a minute this is your room, that means this is the "17 Black" penthouse suite ? " Louis asked in amazement. 

Harry looked at him with his eyebrows raised, " Yes, Louis. This is 17 BLACK. "

" But why I am here, I mean why I and Niall are here, sleeping in your bedroom, on your bed ?" Louis was still in shock but suddenly his stomach growled and he blushed deeply. 

" Sorry."

" It's okay. And I'll explain you everything, but first go and get fresh. I'll order some breakfast for you and Niall. Is he awake? "

" Umm no, he's still asleep. But you don't have to order anything, I'll just head home." Louis said and started walking to the washroom. 

" Louis, I'm not letting you and Niall go out of this room without eating anything. Take it as a request or an order from your boss. You both didn't eat anything since last night so it's better if you do. " Harry said and picked up the phone installed in the living room to call the room service. 

Louis looked at him for a few second but then he made his way into the bathroom. 

After 10 minutes when Louis walked out of the washroom, Harry was closing the front door of the suite. Louis turned to look at the breakfast table, his eyes widened when he looked at the amount of food Harry had ordered. 

As soon as Harry walked back into the room, Louis started speaking. 

" Mr. Styles, sir, that's a lot of food." 

Harry was a bit taken aback at his sudden comment but then he chuckled and sat down before gesturing Louis to do the same. But Louis was still standing so Harry rolled his eyes and said, 

" Louis, either you sit down yourself or I'm going to make you." 

Louis' eyes widened and he scurried down on to the chair, the opposite side of the table. 

" T-thank you, Sir ; for the food." 

" It's no problem at all. By the way, I tried to wake Niall up but he just grumbled something and again fell asleep. So I think it's better to let him sleep 'till he wants to, because he gets really grumpy like that. "

Louis chuckled and nodded, " I know, once happened to me and he was a complete wreck for the whole day. "

They both laughed before Harry made tea for both of them, louis took a muffin from the platter and started munching on it, after thanking Harry for making the tea for him. After a few minutes of silence, Louis asked the question, 

" Sir, would you maybe tell me, what happened last night, I mean how I ended up in here ? " Louis asked hesitantly after sipping from his tea. 

Harry put down his cup on the table and wiped his mouth before he started explaining what happened last night, after when Niall reached out to him when he couldn't find Louis. Louis was blushing in embarrassment and worry, what would his boss be thinking about him after everything. 

" I'm really sorry, Sir . For sleeping at work and troubling you with everything. I promise it will never happen again. It was the first time in quite a while since I worked that late. And for some reasons I couldn't get proper sleep the previous night. So I was just really tired. "

" It's completely fine, Louis. And you actually completed each and every task before you went to take the break. So it's not like you performed bad at your work. Now stop worrying about it. "

Louis gave him a thankful smile and again both of them settled down in a comfortable silence. 

Zayn and Liam's words rang in his mind when Harry started to think about everything. 

" You need to get over from your past."  
" Just do what your heart wants, Harry. For once, listen to it."

He closed his eyes for a brief second and took a long breath. His hands started to get sweaty and shaky when he looked up at Louis' face. But this time he pushed away his nervousness and cleared his mind before he spoke to him. 

" Louis." 

Louis' eyes flickered back to him from where they were watching out of the window. He put down the cup back on the table and gave Harry his full attention, when he saw his serious face. 

" I am sorry."  Harry said looking into his eyes putting all of his emotions in those three words. 

He was sorry since the moment he got inside his car after yelling at Louis 2 days ago. He was sorry since the time he realized he hurt someone as good as Louis because of someone as evil as Blake. He was sorry since the moment he saw hurt in Louis' eyes, when he walked out of that stall. He did not walk out of that washroom all fuming because he got irritated by Louis' tears , he was angry because even after three years, that horrendous person was still able to affect his life so much. 

The realization flashed into his eyes when Louis collected his thoughts on why Harry was apologizing. But what surprised him the most was that his BOSS was actually saying sorry to him, which never happened before in his entire life while working for someone. He knew that what happened before was not anyone's fault but the consequences were to blame for, but here he was sitting in front of his Employer who's head bowed down in guilt. But now he was sure that what happened was not intentional but spontaneous. Something must have happened in the past that made him think like this. 

" Mr. Styles, please. It's... No... Please don't apologise, sir." Louis was at lost of words, what to say. 

" No Louis, it was my fault that I lashed out on you. You didn't do anything wrong. You were right, it's your way to show your emotions and feelings. And I was the stupid one to tell you that your crying was unnecessary. I was the one, who was being an utter ass... Idiot. Sorry for my language. " Harry was still not looking at him. How can he, those eyes always makes him weak and strong at the same time and he was sure that if he looked into them right now, he would probably start crying. 

Louis was staring at Harry's falter demeanor in awe. Never in his entire life anyone cared for his cries, let alone apologize to him for making him cry, except for his mother. And when it comes to him who made Louis feel like he was a disgrace on human race , it was totally out of the question. It was that person's fault that Louis lost his hope and faith in everyone. 

" Sir, it-it's okay. It wasn't your fault either. Yes, your words were harsh and they made me feel a bit sore in my heart. But now I understand that they were never meant for me. The moment you left the washroom without saying anything and what I saw in your eyes, I could feel the emotions that you were trying to hide behind your anger. 

Sometimes what we say or how we act, in some ways it reflects our past experiences. I've been there that's why I can feel it too. I don't know what happened that made you think like that but it wasn't your fault ; I'm sure."

Louis' soothing words flow like a free river without any boundaries or any restrictions in the wilderness. He said the words without thinking that he was not talking to his boss or a part stranger but someone who he had known for ever. He just couldn't control himself to make Harry feel not guilty, because he really wasn't. 

Harry's eyes finally found the courage to look into those blue orbs that were now shining like a blue sky after a heavy rain. They both kept looking into each other's eyes for a while, seeking for the comfort that both of them needed. Suddenly Harry felt his eyes glistening and he flickered his lashes a few times to keep his eyes dry and looked away. When he was sure that his eyes were no longer wet, he turned to look at him again and found Louis still looking at him in curiosity. Like he was trying to decipher something. But before Louis could ask something, Harry remembered what Niall mentioned last night, so he asked, because the subject was related to the situation. 

" Louis, why are you worried about losing your job so much ? I mean I know it's never a good thing to lose one's job, but you panicking every time when a slightest mistake happens, is not a good thing. Is there something wrong ? Is there anyone still at the Regency, who is threatening you to take away your job ? Because if it is then let me tell you , except for me no one can fire you from this job. So please tell me, what it is, that is bothering you ? " Harry rambled in one breath. He panicked when he realized that maybe someone else from the board could be blackmailing him. 

Louis eyes were still hooked on to Harry's, he heard everything what Harry said but he was unable to form a word from his mouth. He did not understand why he was feeling tounge tied. All he wanted to do in the moment was to cry, if he wasn't less overwhelmed from everything, then Harry's question made him more weak. How can he explain why he was so afraid of losing his job ? He didn't realize when tear drops rolled down to his cheeks and landed on his laps, but a gasping sound escaping from Harry's lips and shocked expression made him to come out of his world of misery. 

" Louis what's wrong, please tell me ? Why are you crying ?"  Harry was really close to gather up the poor boy in his arms and cuddle him up 'till all of his pain goes away. 

Louis frowned his eyebrows in confusion, but then felt the wetness on his cheeks. He chuckled weakly at himself and said, before wiping his tears and shaking his head. 

" It's one of the side effects of being a carrier, you get emotional at every single thing." Louis' eyes widened suddenly when he realized what he just said. 

" What ?" Harry whispered. He heard clearly what Louis just revealed . 

Louis' nervousness started taking over his mind and his palms started sweating. He was not sure how would Harry react, what if he was also some of the people who thought that being gay is a crime and on top of that being a carrier is a sin. 

Harry noticed Louis' condition and poured a glass of water and said before offering it to him. 

" I'm not one of those people, if you are thinking I am. Here, have some water." Harry answered Louis' unasked question. 

Louis looked up at him after a few moments when he was able to. He looked from the glass Harry was offering, to his face. Harry gave him an assuring smile and nodded to the glass in his hand. 

" T-thanks." Louis took the glass from Harry's hand and took a few small gulps from the it, emptying half of the glass down his throat, before placing it back on the table. 

" You okay ?" Harry asked carefully, he knew very well that the subject was quite sensitive. 

Louis gave him a tight smile, "Yeah." 

Harry understands that Louis was still insecure. 

" Look Louis, I know that still there are people who are feeble minded towards LGBTQ and specially for male pregnancies, but I'm not one of those and none of my staff is. Styles Corporations is a place where we Treat People With Kindness And Equality. So if anyone out there is trying to make you feel uncomfortable about it, just let us know. " Harry was speaking really softly and his words were very simple yet enough to make Louis feel better. He gave Harry a real smile this time and thanked him again. 

" Thank you, Sir. One of the reasons why I don't want to lose my job here is because I feel really happy and safe here. It's the best place I've ever worked for. Everyone here is really good. It feels like a second home to me." Louis' words were coming from his heart, he wasn't telling a lie. 

Harry felt proud at that moment and a smile appeared on his face, because not only Louis feels like that, but because he realized that he was doing a great job to make the work place under his authority, a safe environment for everyone. 

When Harry looked down to his lap, to control his giddiness, he remembered something, 

"  Ummm Louis, if you don't mind can I have my suit jacket back now ?" Harry asked about the piece of clothing that he left here last night. 

Louis' eyebrows frowning in confusion for a couple of seconds thinking about it and then his eyes widened in realization that the jacket he was almost wearing in the morning, was Harry's. Now he realized why it looked so familiar to him. He stood up from his chair and scrambled towards the bedroom, after excusing himself in embarrassment. Harry pursed his lips in thin line to control his laugh when he saw the shocked and embarrassed face of Louis. 

As soon as Louis walked into the bedroom he shut the door and leaned back against it. His eyes closed and breathing heavy. His bottom lip trapped between his teeth which were mercilessly biting on them to control the smile that was prominent. His whole face was burning red in embarrassment. He opened his eyes and looked for the cloth he ran out of there to fetch , he found it laid on the place where he was a while ago, and made his way towards it. 

When he picked the fabric up with his right hand, he slapped his left hand over his face to control his blush and the face splitting grin. 'What the hell is happening to him ? ' is all he could think of right then . He took a long breath and then exhaled while watching Niall still sleeping in his careless sleep, he walked out of the bedroom. 

" I'm sorry, sir. I don't know how." Louis didn't know what to say about it, so he just handed the jacket over to Harry. 

"It's okay, Louis." Harry gave him a smile and took the jacket from his hand. 

" By the way, thanks for choosing the suit. " Harry said while draping the jacket over his lap. 

Right now Louis can only wish that someone just hide him away from the situation or his stupid friend who is sleeping in the next room, would come out and help him to escape from there. His blush was growing more and more darker on his face and he wouldn't dare to look at Harry. 

" It-It was Zayn who chose the s-suit, I-I just agreed on what he showed me." He stuttered out after a couple of seconds. 

Harry's eyebrows raised in amusement and he remarked what he remembered correctly. 

" But as I remember, he asked you to chose a suit from the slides, while he saved his chosen one on the desktop. So in that way you did chose the suit ." Harry was being a cheeky bastard. 

Louis' eyes widened when he heard that but something clicked in his mind and gave him a chance to strike back at his cheeky boss. He lifted his head with alot of confidence this time and said. 

" Well, if the suit was good then why did you reject it when Zayn asked you ?" Louis got him this time. 

Harry's smile wiped out of his face and a nervous expression suddenly made it's way on it. 

"Um.. it... It.. Z-zayn... suit... It was... I... I chose....." he started stuttering looking down, when he felt Louis' eyes on his face. But suddenly his phone started ringing on the table, which he instantly grabbed and excused himself to go into the corner of the room to talk. He thanked internally who ever was calling him, Liam Payne. 

" Yes Liam ?" Harry said after talking a deep breath. 

"What, yes Liam. Where the fu¢k are you ? I asked at the front desk if you left or not and they say you didn't. Then I checked your office, you're not there either. Where are you ?" 

" Allright allright chill out, would you. And I'm OK, I'm in my room, 17 Black. And if you don't know where it is, then just take the lift number 4 to the top floor and then take your right, at the end of the corner is my suite. You got it ? But still if you get confused, just give me a call or ask any of the staff. " Harry explained because Liam never been there. 

" Yeah okay. " and the line went dead. 

Harry turned around and walk back to the chair. They both sat there in complete silence after that for a couple of minutes until Harry's phone again started ringing. He shook his head and chuckled, when he noticed it was Liam again. 

" What happened ?" he said into the phone. 

" You get your ass down here before I tore down this floor. It's so fu¢king confusing." Liam's voice rang through the phone and Louis looked up at Harry when he heard Liam clearly. He put his hand over his mouth to stifle the laughter. 

Harry noticed that and put his hand on the speaker of the phone, " Sorry, I have to go and get him before someone from the floor start complaining about it." Harry said and walked out of the door when Louis just gave him a nod. 

" Allright where are you ?" Harry asked Liam and made his way to where Liam explained, which was opposite side of the building. 

When Harry found Liam he explained him everything in short, what happened last night and that he apologized to Louis. Liam couldn't be happier and proud for his little brother. Liam was happy that finally Harry took their advice and tried to look ahead from the past. When Harry said that Niall was also in his suite, sleeping, Liam said he was going with him. Harry warned him that to be careful before he could punch him again or something like that, but Liam just waved him off and made their way to the 17 Black. 

When Liam and Harry went back and knocked on the door , Louis was talking on the phone with someone when he answered it. 

" Yeah, I know bubba. I'm sorry ........   I'll try to come ........... Dan, please try to understand ........ Ok, yeah definitely...... Bye, I Love you." 

Harry's felt a tug in his heart, when he heard Louis saying 'I love you' to a person named 'Dan'. Liam noticed the frown on his face and nudged him, " Don't worry. " Harry gave him a tight smile before making his way back to take his jacket. 

" Hello, Liam." Louis greeted him with a bright smile. 

" Hello to you too, Lou. Is Niall up yet ?" he asked hopefully to look for his big time crush. 

" No, he is still asleep." Louis said gesturing to the bedroom door. 

" Oh, OK." Liam said and started making his way to the bedroom. 

" Liam, where do you think you are going ? " Harry asked slipping his jacket through his arms. 

" Where does it look like ? I'm going to wake up my Munchkin." Liam scoffed and open the door. 

Harry's eyes widened and he took a quick step toward Liam but while doing that, he hit his foot on the breakfast table. The force made the whole table to shake, resulting the glass of juice that was sitting on the corner of the table to spill over Louis' pants, who was standing next to it. Louis gasped as the liquid seeped through the clothing and into his socks . 

" $hit, Louis I'm - I'm so sorry. The table... and my foot.... It's just. I'm so sorry. Let me help you clean it." Harry said while taking the napkins from the table and gave them to Louis' who started dabbing on his leg to soak up the extra liquid. He slowly started making his way to the chair to sit on, but Harry quickly helped him to pull the chair next to him. 

" Thanks." Louis said and removed the wet sock from his feet after sitting down on the chair. He grimaced when he felt the sticky liquid on his skin. 

Harry scratches behind his neck nervously before he started speaking, " I'm really sorry, it's just that I was going to stop......." Harry stopped talking when he looked at the bedroom door and found it close, Liam nowhere in the sight. 

" Where the fu¢k did he go ?" Harry said his mouth opened in surprise looking at the bedroom door. 

Louis turned to look where Harry was looking and that's when he too realized that Liam was not in the same room as them, any more, but in the bedroom. He chuckled and turned back to look at Harry. 

" Let’s hope your brother makes it till we get there, Sir." 

Harry looked at him, himself laughed a little before saying,  " Let’s just go and wash the stain before it ruin your pants." Harry says and start walking towards the bathroom before picking up the wasted napkins from the table. Louis takes the wet sock, which was definitely ruined now as it was white, and started following Harry to the bathroom. 

-

When Liam entered into the bedroom he found Niall sleeping on his side, under the blanket . He slowly walked towards the bed and sat down at edge of it, looking at the peaceful beauty that was sleeping in front of his eyes. The blanket was pulled up to Niall's chin and his hair tousled in every direction. One of his hands tucked under his cheek as he was snuggled into the soft eiderdown cover caressing his skin. He was sleeping comfortably. 

When the Irish beauty was asleep, he lay as still as a brick. The only movement was the slight rise and fall of his chest. It was hard to imagine that this was the same guy that terrorize him to chop off his precious balls and almost killed him. In his sleep he was angelic, his face was as fresh as a dew drop, making gentle snuffling noises as he breathed. His hair spread all over his forehead making him look like a fragile kitten as Liam calls him ; Munchkin. Liam did not realize that he was smiling in fond until he whispered to himself, 

" I would love to fall in love you, Niall, and it would be an honour for me to be loved by you ." 

He carefully moved to sit beside him to admire the beauty closely that he could not when the sleeping beauty wakes up and turns into a beast ; but a beautiful one even then. Niall's features were much softer in sleep, his beautiful lashes that were now securing the two beautiful oceans inside them, were fluttering now and then. His cute nose that was dusted with natural blush, looked even more cute than the distance and Liam would love to bop it with his own. But then his eyes dropped to his lips and he couldn't move his eyes from them. 

It wasn't any lust or any sexual attraction towards the boy sleeping beside him that caused Liam to think about how it would feel to touch the tender skin with his own. It was a feeling that he cannot explain why he was so into the boy, for him he could only say that he was imprinted on the boy. 

Liam felt peaceful at the moment beside him. Wanting nothing more than to curl up into the curve of his body, but still straining himself from it, he pulled the blanket up over to his shoulder. But before he could pull his hand away him, Niall grabbed it and snuggle into it, unconsciously pulling Liam over the bed. Liam was about to fall over him but he held his body up with the help of his other hand, his eyes widened in shock.

Niall grumbled something in his slumber and pulled on Liam's hand more before wrapping it around his own torso turning to the other side, resulting Liam to fell on the bed, on his face with an 'oomph' . Liam's eyes that were already wide, now they were about to pop out. 

He slowly tried to pull his hand back from Niall's grip. Finally when he got his hand free, he laid on his back on the bed to take a breath of relief for a second . But as soon as he tried to get up from the bed, Niall turned around and threw his arms and legs over Liam's body before completely laying on top of him and then nuzzled his face into his chest. Liam was trapped under him, but he wasn't complaining about it either.

The only thing that feared him was, what will happen if Niall woke up and found him in this position. It doesn't matter if it was Niall who pulled him because once when Niall will see him like this , he'll definitely kill him even before a single word would escape from his lips. So he tried to move him but the boy wouldn't budge, instead he held him even tightly. Liam was dead that's all he could think of right now. 

Liam's internal war comes to a stop when the bedroom door opens. He looked up to see that Harry and Louis were looking at them with their eyes and mouth open wide in shock. Funny they were literally mirroring each other. 

" Liam what the fu¢k is wrong with you ? Get away from him." Harry whisper shouted at him standing next to the bed. 

Liam rolled his eyes and retorted in the same way, whispering, 

" Do you really think I would do something like this while he's asleep ? I'm not that cheap, Harry. "

" Than how are you in this position, explain please ?" Harry asked folding his arms. 

" He pulled me in his sleep and I fell on the bed and then he climbed up on me. That's what happened. Now please help me out before he wakes up and murders me. " Liam said. 

Harry turned to look at Louis who looked away hiding his blushing face and smile, which caused Harry to smile himself. 

" Would you two quit smiling at each other, there is man near to death. " Liam glared at the couple. 

Louis and Harry advanced towards him but they were still at the loss of ideas to what to do. But then Louis remembered something and said, 

" Liam, I'm going to pull Niall from the other side of the bed but you have to be quick to escape from the room, once he's off of you. Do you understand ? " Louis asked looking at him. 

" OK... But what if he woke up in the middle of you pulling him ? I'm too young to die. " 

" I won't do it slowly, I will pull him like ripping a band-aid and still if he asked what I was doing, I would just say that he was falling off of the bed so I pulled him back. "

" o-ok that's better. "

Liam gives him a smile when Louis gets on the bed and crawled over to them. He looks at Harry and says, " Sir, please open the door wide so Liam won't hit his head when he gets out. And Liam if he wakes up suddenly, then just crawl under the bed and wait until one of us give you a sign to move." Louis said and watched as Harry opened the door wide. 

Louis looked at Liam and hovered over both of them, he grabbed Niall's shoulder lightly and gave Liam a nod before he pulled Niall off of him with a quick move . Niall startled in his sleep and his eyes open in shock when he found Louis laying under him, 

" Louis, what the heck are you doing, I'm trying to sleep." 

Louis looked from the corner of his eyes, Liam crawling under bed and he sighed in relief before pushing him off of his body. 

" I came here to wake you up, but you were about to fall down the bed so I had to pull you back. " Louis said getting up from the bed. 

Niall turned to look at the side and then he realized that how he was almost at the edge of the bed. "Thanks man now go away, I need to sleep more." Niall grumbled and stuffed his face again into the mattress. 

Louis looked at Harry and he nodded before signaling Liam to get out of the room. Liam did the best commando crawl of his life and scurried out of the room. He took a breath of relief when he sat down on the sofa in the living room. Harry followed him behind and sat down next to him chuckling at his scared face. 

" What are you laughing at ?" Liam kicked him in the leg.

Louis tried to wake up Niall again but the latter just asked him to give him five more minutes. So Louis walked out of the bedroom closing the door behind. 

" He asked to give him five minutes more. Do you want me to wake him up, Mr. Styles. If you want to take some rest here ?" Louis asked standing next to the door. 

" No, no it's ok. Either way I was heading home, Zayn just messaged me that he's here, so I'll be on my way. Liam, you coming ? " Harry stood up and asked looking at Liam. 

" Yeah, I think I'll tag along. That was quite enough adventure for me for a couple of days now. And thanks Lou, for saving my arse in there. How did you get the idea by the way ? " Liam said chuckling at Louis. 

Louis who was smiling a few seconds ago, suddenly his face lose it's color and he looked down. 

" I - I use to help my s-sisters when they wanted to sneak into my.... my mum's room to get.... get something. " Louis' voice filled with sadness. 

Harry looked from him to Liam, and the same question erupt in his mind as Liam's. 

" Use to ?" Liam asked hesitantly. 

" She passed away in an accident when I was 14. " Louis looked up at them, his voice crocked. 

Both of the boys' eyes widened and they immediately regreted to ask the question. 

" I'm really sorry, Louis. I didn't know. I'm sorry." Liam said walking up to him and hugged him. Louis returned the hug and gave him a weak smile. 

" It's okay, Liam. And it happened a long time ago, I'm better now." He lied, he can never get over with the pain. 

" I'm sorry, Louis. " Harry's words came out in a whisper when he stopped next to him. His eyes were doing the work that his words couldn't. He knew how does it feel like to lose someone. He just wanted to cuddle the boy with all his heart. 

Louis looked at him and gave him a smile but averted his eyes the very next moment. He did not want to cry again, and if he looked in Harry's eyes, he would definitely. 

" Allright we'll just head out now. You take care of yourself and my Munchkin. Yeah ? " Liam said trying to light up the mood. Louis chuckled and nodded his head. 

" Just let me or Zayn know, if you guys need anything ?" Harry said looking him in the eye for good five seconds. Louis just gave him a subtle nod and a genuine smile. 

-

After an hour or so when Louis and Niall were about to exit the building, Louis found Zayn standing at the front desk and asked Niall to wait for a minute because he wanted to give the room key back to Zayn, so he can get the room cleaned up. 

" Louis, hey you still here ? I thought you guys left." Zayn asked when he saw Louis making his way over to him. 

" Yeah I just wanted to give you the key to 17 Black , I don't know if Mr. Styles told you......" 

" Oh yeah he mentioned about you and Niall staying the night. It's okay just give me the key, I'll get the room cleaned and will hand over the key to Harry." Zayn said and took the key when Louis offered him. 

" Thank you so much and I'll see you tomorrow. " Louis said giving him a smile. 

" No problem, Lou. Have a good day." 

Louis and Niall made their way out of the building and walked away a few feet to wait for a taxi to stop by. They weren't in a mood to take the tube/underground or struggled through the bus. Louis didn't have any vehicle and Niall's car was in the garage to get fixed. 

Louis was talking on the phone with someone and Niall was typing on his phone, too busy to notice that a car stopped next to them, until the window glass pulled down and a wolf whistle rang into their ears. 

" Get in sexy thing. "


	12. " Please Don't Leave."

(July 2017, London)  
. 

Almost half an hour after when Louis and Niall left the building, Harry and Liam made their exit from there as well. Due to some sort of emergency, Harry had to stay back for a bit longer more and so does Liam. They both got into Harry's car, before Harry turned on the ignition and pulled the car out of the parking lot, driving through the territory of the hotel. 

Liam was looking out of the car when his eyes catches something and he focused his sight to recognize the people. It wasn't really hard to recognize them as he always tried to look for one of them these days. Liam tapped on Harry's hand and gestured him to look at the side of the road. 

" Harry, pull over." 

Harry's eyes moved to look at where Liam was pointing to and a scowl suddenly appeared on his face. He slowly parked vehicle on the side and turned off the engine, before they both walked out of it instantly. 

-

( Few minutes earlier) 

" Get in sexy thing." 

Niall who was typing on the phone, stopped moving his fingers and Louis turned around to look at the source of the voice as well. The man who catcalled before, smirked and turned around to talk to the person who was driving the car, before he shut down the car. Niall looked back at Louis and then they took a few steps away from there to avoid them. 

The three man who were sitting in the car, exchanged glances with each other before they walked out of the vehicle. They did not made any move to go near the two but to stand by the car, before one of them who was wearing the black shirt, started speaking. 

" C'mon sweethearts, we can give you a ride. There ain't no need to wait for a stupid bus. You know that fine a$$ of yours is made to sit on cars like this not some rusty bus." 

" Fu¢k off before I kick your a$$." Niall said glaring at them. 

" Whooooooooh, baby ! Aye, how bout you bring your fine ass over here. You know I'm not like Tod here, I will treat you with special things. I won't even let your juicy a$$ touch the seat, but my lap. " the blue shirt spoke this time. 

" Back the fu¢k off you jerk." Louis spat through his gritted teeth.

" Hey baby, now that's not a good thing, aye . You know we can help each other equally. We will give you a ride to your place and then you can ride us there, how 'bout that , huh ? "  the guy in white t-shirt said and high five the others,laughing. 

Louis' patience was giving up on him as he started walking towards them but Niall held his hand and said, 

" Let’s just go back to the hotel and call for a cab from there. " 

Louis looked at him and then back to the three bastards who obviously ogling onto them. He huffed after taking a long breath and nodded. He barely took a few steps before the guy wearing black shirt grabbed Niall's wrist and swung him around. 

" Hey !" 

" Where do you think you're going, baby." 

" What the fu¢k, leave his hand, you swine." Louis shouted before punching him square in the face. 

The guy fell on the ground holding his cheek. He spit out blood after regaining his balance on feet when the other two helped him up. 

" I'm warning you again, stay the fu¢k away from us. " Louis warned pointing a finger at them. 

Mr. Blue shirt growled and advanced towards them, but his all focus was on Louis, so he couldn't see the flying fist coming towards his face, before Niall hit him in the jaw and he tumbled back to the other two. 

" We are not like the others, if you think we will let you do or say whatever you want to without getting punched." Niall's face was red in fury. 

This time all the three scrambled towards them together and tried to get hold on the two. Niall and Louis braced themselves to handle the three. 

-

Harry saw the rage in those three men's eyes and his feet moved faster than before. He would kill those bastards if they tried to touch his Louis. While Liam's right hand curled up in a tight fist and his expressions controlled in anger, how the fu¢k they dared to touch his Munchkin. 

Before the three perverts can reach to the two boys, Harry pulled Niall behind his back and held on to the two of the guys by their neck, before dragging them all the way back to their car and pushed them down on the dicky of the car. Liam rushed right after Harry and punched the guy in the nose who earlier grabbed Niall's wrist. 

Niall and Louis were in complete shock. For a moment they couldn't understand what was going on until they registered what Liam and Harry were doing. Liam was pushing down the guy onto the ground and throwing the punches on his face and Harry was hovering over the two man while pinning them down on the car. 

When Niall saw the condition of the man on the ground whom Liam was still punching, he rushed towards him. The man's face was red with the blood seeping through his nose, lips and a few cuts on his face, but still Liam wasn't stopping his fist from colliding it again and again on his face. 

" Liam, stop it, you'll kill him." Niall said and pulled Liam off of him. 

Liam's breathing were uneven and his face was burning red when he looked at Niall. Without giving it a thought he grabbed his hand that the guy grabbed before, and started inspecting it. His face control in concern. 

" Liam what are you doing ?" Niall asked when Liam unbuttoned the cuffs and pulled the sleeve up. 

" Fu¢king bastard." Liam growled and again tried to attack the man laying on the floor, when he saw the painful hand print on his wrist. But before he could, Niall held him back by his arms. 

" Liam no, he's already had enough. You'll kill him." Niall said looking into his burning eyes. 

Liam kept looking at him for a few seconds before closing his eyes for a moment and opening them again. He moved closer to Niall before cupping his face between his palm and asked looking into his eyes. 

" Are you okay, did he hurt you ?" 

Niall didn't understand what happened when he looked into Liam's eyes. For the first time since he met him, Niall did not want to push him away. He wasn't making any move or saying anything but kept looking into those chocolate brown eyes. Liam was getting impatient when Niall wasn't answering him. He slowly stroked his thumb over Niall's right cheek and asked again. 

" Niall, please say something. Are you okay ?" 

The soft stroke created goosebumps all over his body and Niall came back from his trance. 

" Y-yeah, I'm - I'm okay." Niall said looking away from him and tried to pull back from his touch, but Liam wouldn't let go. Niall looked back at him and still found the concern in his eyes, so he put both of his hands on Liam's before squeezing them lightly. 

" I'm fine, Liam. "

Liam flickered his lashes a few times before nodding to himself and retrieving his hands back from Niall's face. 

All the time when Liam was checking on Niall on the side, Louis was standing frozen in his spot when he heard what Harry said to the two men. The fear in those two's eyes was enough to understand that they were only a few seconds away from pissing themselves. 

" When they asked you to back off, you should have listened to them." Harry growled in his deep and low voice. 

Louis heard those words before in the same gravelly voice , he has witnessed this scene before but he couldn't quite put a finger on it. He cursed himself for the time when he fell sick and his memory got weak. 

Harry was going to punch one of the guy but before his fist could connect to the man's face, he heard someone exclaiming at the distance. 

" No !" Louis rushed to his side, but still he was standing a feet away from him. 

" Leave them, Sir. They're not worth it." 

" Louis they tried to hurt you guys." Harry reasoned and tightened his grip on their throats. 

" I'm not hurt at all and Niall is completely ok. Let them go, I don't want to create any scene here. Just think about your company's name, what if police get involved in this ." Louis was genuinely worried about the way Harry's facial expressions were nothing but murderous. 

" I don't give a flying fu¢k about that, how dare these a$$holes tried to hurt you two." and without wasting a second Harry punched the guy whom he was holding with his right hand. 

Louis' eyes widened in fear and he looked at Liam for help, pleading. He was fixated on his spot in shock. 

" Liam, please stop him before he does something bad . "

Liam rushed to him and tried to pull him off but Harry wouldn't move instead he punched the other guy as well. Liam snaked his arms around Harry's torso and pulled him back with full force. 

" Run before I change my mind as well. " Liam glared at the men who slid down to the ground. And in a flash all the three perverts rushed inside their car, tumbling upon each other, before starting it and speeding off from there. 

" Liam let me go before those fu¢kers run away from here. " Harry growled in Liam's grip, struggling to get free. 

" Harry, calm down, you're scaring Louis." Liam said into his ear, and the very next moment Harry stopped moving and fighting. He turned around to look at Louis' face, when Liam unclasped his hands from around him. 

Louis' cheeks were flushed and his face was controlled in fear. His uneven breathing movement were also indicating his discomfort at the moment. Harry could easily sense his distress by looking into his eyes. When he tried to reach out to him, Louis took a step back, Harry halted his feet from moving. A hurt expression appeared on Harry's face when he realized that Louis was afraid of him. 

" Louis, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Harry apologized. 

" No. It-it's okay. Are you okay ?" Louis asked after collecting himself. 

" I'm okay." Harry replied looking down. He felt like he just ruined everything all over again. All of the apologies and Understandings, gone wasted over his rage. He promised himself that he would never do this again since that night, but it happened again. 

" C'mon guys, let's get inside the car we'll drop you off at your places." Liam said, sensing the tension between the two. 

" No, we'll just call a cab. Thanks for everything, both of you. C'mon Lou." Niall was already struggling with his internal turmoil. 

When the two started walking away, Liam turned to look at Harry for any help but he just kept looking down. Liam huffed in frustration before he walked after them. 

" Guys stop. Let us drop you. We'll be a bit relieved to know that you guys reached to your places safely. I know both of you are a bit shaken after the incidence ." Liam said standing in front of them. 

" Liam we'll be ok. We are okay now." Louis said giving him a tight smile. 

" You know, your fake smile won't change my mind right . Now c'mon get inside. " Liam said folding his hand in front of him. 

" Liam don't ......" 

" Get inside the car, we're driving you home. " Harry said before walking past them, making his way to the driver's side of the car . 

" You heard him. " Liam said, before himself going after Harry and sliding in the passenger side. 

Louis and Niall looked at each other and when Louis sagged his shoulders, Niall chuckled before they started walking towards the car. Louis walked around in front of the car to the right side before opening the back door and sliding behind the driver's seat and Niall did the same on the other side. Harry put on his Ray-Ban before he started the car and hit the road again. 

It's been 10 minutes since they were on the road and right now they were struck in the middle of a traffic jam. They all were sitting in complete silence, not a word escaped from any of their lips. And it was quite confusing to say that if it was a comfortable silence or not , for all of them.

Harry was sitting on his driver's seat with a permanent frown on his face. He was getting irritated by the jam and the silence in the car as well. Every once in a while he would try to sneak a glance at Louis. Louis was obviously not looking at him but out of the car. The guilt starts to make him curse himself, whenever Harry remembers the scared face of Louis. How could he loose his self control like that in front of him. He shook his and closed his eyes for a second. 

Louis was looking out of the window but he could feel every once in a while Harry's eyes on him through the rear view mirror or the side mirror, but he wasn't going to look back at him. He can understand the rage behind Harry's action but it was his first time watching him like that, and it was definitely not a good sight to watch him like that. 

Louis tried to turn his head to the other side but suddenly he felt a sharp pain shoot through the back of his neck. He clutched the aching area and hissed out a little bit, attracting everyone's attention to him. 

" Lou, you okay ?" Niall asked looking at him. 

" Yeah, it's just the back of my neck hurts a little bit, that's all." Louis said before rubbing his neck a few times and then retracting his hand back to his lap. 

"They did not hurt you, did they ?" Harry asked looking back at him immediately. 

Louis first time looked at him and shook his head in no. 

" No, they didn't. Actually when I woke up this morning I kind of fell......" He stopped himself before he could make a fool out of himself in front of them. " I mean, I think maybe I pulled a muscle or something, while sleeping." He mumbled and sulked into his seat, with a cherry pink face. 

" By the way, why were you sleeping like that last night at the venue ." Niall asked, a mischievous smirk suddenly appeared on his face . Louis looked at him for a second in confusion and then said. 

" After a few minutes when I had the medicine, I started to get dizzy so that's why I told you that I was going to take some time off. I went to sit one of the sofas in the back but I don't really remember when I fell asleep." Louis explained frowning his face in concentration to remember anything but he couldn't. 

For a few seconds everyone was in complete silence and then suddenly all the people sitting in the car burst into laughter, except for Louis, who was looking like a confused kitten from one person to another. 

" What, what are you guys laughing about ?" Louis asked looking at Niall. 

" When we found you there, you were sleeping on the floor." Niall was still laughing. 

" What ? No, I remember I was sitting on the sofa 'till I drift off to sleep. Stop lying." Louis said and crossed his arms. 

" No Louis, he's telling the truth. Seems like while you were asleep, you fell down from the sofa. " Liam said and again all of them started laughing. 

Louis looks from Liam to Niall they both nodded their head. He then looked at Harry through the mirror, he also tried to cover his chuckle with his hand and that caused Louis to blush himself before smiling. 

The traffic started to get clear so Harry turned on the car but Niall's laugh was no where to die down any soon. 

" Niall James Horan, stop laughing at me  before I hit you." Louis tried to threaten him but he was himself smiling. 

" OK ok I'm sorry. I won't laugh." Niall said and tried to control his laugh. 

" Hey, your middle name is James as well ? " Liam asked Niall, out of nowhere looking really excited. 

" What do you mean  ?" Niall asked raising his eyebrows at him. 

" Mine too, Liam James Payne. See we're supposed to be together, we are soulmates." Liam said cheerfully and suddenly the cricket sound could be heard in the car as Niall narrowed his eyes on him before growling . 

" Liam you should shut up, before he starts beating you again." Harry advised and turned Liam's face to look at front. 

" Yes Liam, you should listen to your brother." Niall said giving him a creepy smile. 

Harry and Louis laughed at Liam's scared face. Harry patted on Liam's shoulder before saying. 

" You ok there, Brother ?" 

" Fuck off." Liam grumbled and crossed his arms in front of him. 

After that the ride was smooth till Niall and Louis were dropped off to their places. They lived a few blocks away from each other. Louis thanked both Liam and Harry for the ride, giving them a genuine smile. Harry asked if he was okay or not, at which Louis gave him a nod with a smile. For Harry it was more than enough to understand that Louis was not upset with him anymore. After then they dropped Niall off. Niall thanked Harry and Liam as well with a smile, which caused Liam's face to bright up like a Christmas tree. 

The next day when all of them got together at the Regency, they all were quite friendly and relaxed with each other, even Liam and Niall. It was in the afternoon when Mr. James Corden and his family were ready to check out from the hotel. That means it was time to say goodbye to the little sunshine named, Grace. 

When Grace met with Louis that afternoon she wouldn't let go off him until Harry came to take her from him. Harry saw the hurt in both of their eyes, Louis and Grace. They knew each other only for few days but what happened in those days brought all of them really close. The way Grace was protective of Louis, showed how much she loved him, and the tears in Louis' eyes were proof that the feelings were mutual. 

Harry was unable to pry his eyes off of the two all the time when Grace was in Louis' arms. The way two got along so well. Harry's lips twitch upwards whenever Louis would tickle her or she gives him a kiss. The sight was too beautiful to miss. In his heart watching Louis like that, Harry started to feel more for him. He just wished that he could get his happy ending as well one day. 

When Harry was saying goodbye to the little girl, Louis was also sneaking glances at him. The way Harry would kiss her cheeks or make her smile. The way he tried to make her feel better about leaving, it was all really heartwarming for him. When Mr. Corden announced that it was time to go, Harry dropped down to his knees putting Grace on her feet and asked everyone to give her a group hug that she needed. That one thing made Louis happy really much. 

-

After that day, every day was just like the same except for when Liam would make a surprise visit to Harry, which was just a excuse to see Niall again and again in a day. He would come to the hotel and tease Niall until he starts hitting or throwing things at him. It was one time when Niall was in the hotel kitchen and Liam barged in. Let's say it was not a good idea for Liam as he almost got his balls chopped off that day. Since then he would only be around Niall until one of his 4 allies were there ; Harry, Zayn, Perrie or Louis. 

Liam stayed in London for a week 'til he had to go back to New York. But he promised that he'll keep in touch this time. Niall was happy that he was going or at least he was pretending to be. The day when Liam announced that he was leaving the next day, everyone's face fell down in sadness. Niall laughed that finally the "Dick" was going and he can live his life peacefully. But Liam looked at him in the eyes and said " I'll be back before you even know it, Munchkin." and kissed him on the cheek before running away laughing like a maniac. Niall's face was red and eyes were wide, he couldn't understand what just happened and before he could collect his thoughts, Liam was out of the building. But in his heart, Niall was feeling a little sad as well, but he didn't said it out loud. 

\------

( August 2017, London)   
. 

It's been quite a few days since Liam left for New York. The work was going well for everyone. Louis and Harry were okay with each other, not too much talking but not avoiding each other as well. Like an employee and boss would be. Harry would talk to him like a friend sometimes if he finds him a bit stressed about something and Louis would explain him, if the topic was not related to his personal life. You can say, their relationship was somewhere in the middle of a colleague and being friends. And It was better like this for both of them. 

It was late in the afternoon one day, Louis and Niall were at the front desk when Harry came into the building with fast steps. His face was crimson and expressions were nothing but filled with rage. Fires of fury and hatred were smoldering in his green narrowed eyes and his fists were clenched tight as his jaw. Neither did Louis or Niall dare a word as he made his way to the lift. Everyone that came into his path, scurried away immediately. No one in the hotel had ever seen him like this, it was a fact. 

" What's wrong with him ?" Louis asked as soon as the lift door closed and Harry was out of their sights. 

" I-I don't know ? I've never seen him like this before. The last time when I saw him angry was, when he came out of the washroom after you two had that argument. But still he wasn't this much angry. God knows what happened." Niall's eyes were wide in shock. 

" Let's just hope it's nothing serious." Louis says and looks down before starts working. 

After almost 10 minutes Louis was going through some of the details in the log book when suddenly a phone starts ringing. He looked around at the desk and found Niall's phone under one of the files. When he looked at the caller's ID, it was Zayn. So he received the call. 

" Zayn it's me Lo......." 

" Niall, I need you in Harry's office right now, it's urgent." Zayn cut him off in the middle. 

" Zayn, it's Louis. Niall forgot his phone, he went out for some work." Louis said frowning his eyebrows at Zayn's frantic voice and the loud sound in the background. 

" $hit. When is he coming back ? " Zayn asked. 

" He just left and it'll take him almost fifteen minutes to get back. Zayn is everything all right, what's that noise in the back ?" 

" It's - It's . Louis could you please come up here. I need someone's help right now, it's urgent. And if someone asks , just tell them that I called you. Please, just come fast. " 

" O-ok. I'm coming. " Louis disconnected the call and asked his colleague to handle everything and also return Niall's phone, once he gets back. Then he was rushing towards the lifts. 

When Louis reached outside of Harry's office he couldn't heard a thing, so he knocked on the door but still there was no answer. He took out his phone and dialed Zayn's number and within seconds he answered, " Where are you ?"

" I'm here." Louis answered and the line went dead.

The door lock clicked and it opened. The moment door moved, a loud sound of something crashing was heard from inside with someone screaming. Zayn open the door wide enough before pulling Louis inside. 

" Zayn, what the....." Louis' voice caught in his throat when he saw what was going on in the room. Now he remembered Niall talking about Harry's office being soundproof. 

The place was completely trashed ; files were scattered here and there, the chairs and stools were flipped and everything that was once used to perfectly align over the work desk, scattered all over the floor. All the beautiful decorations and ornaments shattered into many pieces. The canvases, statues and beautiful plants that used to make the room elegant, were laying on the floor in worst conditions. There was also a reek of alcohol in the room and when he looked around, there were several bottles of whiskey shattered into the corner of the room and liquid spilled around them. 

The office wasn't just a mess, it was a disaster zone. It looked like a drunken cyclone had erupted in there and made all of the haphazard way across to the desk to do the same as to his entire room. The only clues that were left to recognise the place as a office was the wooden desk and the heavy sofas in the corner.

But what caused Louis' head snapped to one particular direction was a low noise , which he heard from the other side of the desk. He slowly started walking towards it watching his steps, avoiding any piece of glasses or other pointy pieces. When he saw what was the cause of the noise or who, his hand spontaneously reached to his mouth to muffle the gasp which escaped from his lips.

There in the corner was crouching down on his knees a person who he never thought or wished to see in this kind of situation. Harry. He was pulling on to his hair as the low whimpers were escaping from his mouth. His body was shaking like a leaf in a storm trying to hold on. The grip on his hair was so tight that Harry's knuckles were turning white. 

Louis looked from him to Zayn, who's eyes were sad and full of unshed tears. Louis flickered his eyes between the two, asking Zayn what happened. All Zayn could mouth was " His ex." and that was enough for Louis to understand. Zayn also gave him a pleading look, asking him to help him, and Louis gave him a nervous nod before taking his attention back to Harry. 

He advanced towards Harry with slow steps before he stopped and kneel down in front of him. Now he could smell the alcohol even more. He realized that Harry was Infact drunk right now. He didn't know what to do, he never did this with anyone except for his sisters and it was also really long ago. He looked back at Zayn who gestured him to go ahead. He turned back and breath out before making his move. 

" S-sir ?" Louis' voice was not above than whisper and filled with concern. 

Harry's movements stopped, the whimpers and quivering. He was still for a while and then he removed his hands from his head and turned to look at Louis. His face kind of resembled a lost puppy whom someone hurt really badly. His cheeks were tear-stained and blotchy, and pink puffy eyes those were streaming down silent tears looking at Louis with so much pain in them. 

Louis felt a stinging in his heart, looking at Harry's sad face. He opened his mouth to let in a small breath as tears welled in his own eyes. He did not know why he was feeling suddenly so helpless and pained for him. He fought with everything he had to keep the tears from falling, but when Harry shook his head and turned away from him, Louis couldn't control it. A tear streamed down his face and he whispered "Sir, please..." Louis begged. 

Another tear slid down from Harry's warm, dull green eyes, followed by another one, and another one, until soon, a steady stream of salty tears flowed it's way down his pale cheek, releasing the sadness and sorrow that has been held inside of him for all this time but still he did not make a sound. He refused to look at Louis, even as his lips trembled and his shoulders heaved with emotion, unwilling to back down. His dark lashes brimmed heavy with tears; his hands clenched into shaking fists, in a desperate battle against the grief. Tears kept rolling down his cheeks, just like the floodgates opened.

He wept for a few moments, tears streaming from his green eyes, now loud heaving sobs tearing from his throat, and still he did not look at Louis. Not until the sobs drove him to almost fell on the side because his determined gaze fell. But before he could lose his balance, Louis grabbed him and pulled him into his warm embrace. It was the first time Louis touched him. 

Harry sobbed into Louis' chest unceasingly, hands clutching at his uniform jacket. Louis held him in silence, rocking him slowly as Harry's tears soaked his chest. A tiny lapse let him pull away, blinking lashes heavy with tears, before he collapsed again, his howls of misery worsening. The pain must have come in waves, minutes of sobbing broken apart by short pauses for recovering breaths, before hurling him back into the outstretched arms of his grief.

There were some unshed tears in Louis' eyes that rolled down his cheek. Stinging his tear stained face. His own eyes now filled with many tears glistening in the light, bouncing sadness through the atmosphere. 

Harry was sniffling into his sleeves, when he started speaking 

" Why he-he d-did that t-to me, Louis ? I never did any-thing b-but to love him unconditionally. Then why d-did he broke my h-heart and t-took away my...." A noisy sobs echoed through the room and wracked against Louis' chest. The sound of his cry had a rawness to it, like the pain was from still an open wound.

After a few moments of wailing, the world slowly turned into a blur for Harry , and so did all the sounds. The taste of his own tears on his lips, the smell of the alcohol, everything was gone. The last painful emotion slammed against his heart, before he lost the feeling of getting betrayed. Everything darkened into nothingness as he passed into the oblivion of unconsciousness letting himself stay in Louis' warmth. 

When Louis felt Harry going motionless in his embrace, he wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him close, gently rubbing his arm. His embrace was warm, and arms seemed very protective when he wrapped around Harry's calm body. The world around them melted away as Louis squeezed him further in, not wanting the moment to end. He was having an internal war, why he was feeling like this for a person whom he knew only for a while. This never happened to him. 

" Louis, let's just take him home, he needs to get some rest." Zayn said standing next to him. 

Louis wiped his tears and looked down at Harry before nodding his head. Zayn helped him to get up before throwing one of Harry's shoulder over his and Louis did the same with Harry's other shoulder. Zayn looked at Louis and gave him a thankful smile. Zayn unlocked the door and made their way to the lift. After punching the button to the basement / parking, Zayn pulled out a card from his back pocket and put it in a slot in the lift that Louis never noticed before. 

" What's that ?" Louis asked out of curiosity. 

" It's a key to lock all the other buttons of the lift and on the floors, until you pull it out or you reach to the floor you punched in before. It also shuts down the cctv of the lift as well. Only Harry has one, it comes handy in cases of extreme privacy like this. " Zayn explained. 

" Oh ok." 

" I called Niall earlier and asked him to get Harry's car next to the lift, so the chances of people seeing him in this condition are slim to none. " Zayn said and pulled out the card from the slot, when the lift reached down. 

" When did you called him ? " Louis didn't hear him making the call. 

" I did when you were helping him to calm down. " Zayn's words were selected and reserved. Louis decided to keep quiet after then. 

" Niall open the back door." Zayn said to Niall who was waiting outside of Harry's car next to the lift as he was told. 

" Is he okay ? " Niall asked opening the door. 

" He's piss drunk." Zayn said and tried to fit Harry in the car without hitting his head, which was a bit of work as he was all over the place. But somehow Zayn and Louis managed it. Zayn made him sit on the seat and fastened his seat belt and jump out of the car, but when Louis tried to get out of the car Harry's hand grabbed his jacket which stopped him from moving. Louis turned to look at Harry and found him looking at him with droopy eyes. 

" Please don't leave."  Harry whispered. 

Louis' heart breaking at his pleading, he looked from him to Zayn and Niall. Zayn who was looking back from his driver's seat, turned around and put on his Ray-Ban hiding the tears in his eyes and Niall just gave him a nod, saying. 

" You go with them, I'll take care of the shift." and he closed the door. 

Louis shifted in his seat to look at Harry who again lost his conscious and was tilting his head to Louis' side. Louis delicately adjusted Harry's head on his shoulder and put on his own seat belt.

" You okay ? " Zayn asked. 

" Yeah." 

Zayn started the car before leaving the building. Car glasses were tinted so it was impossible for anyone to see who was inside the car, which was also a good thing. All the way from hotel to Harry's house, no one spoke a word. Harry was sleeping on Louis' shoulder and his hand was still clutching on to Louis' jacket like his life was holding on to it. Louis was really confused, why he was feeling so hurt by witnessing Harry like this. 


	13. Sister Myles

(August 2017, London) 

 

Louis never let anyone come near him like this ever before, except for his mom, sisters and Niall. But why having Harry this close to him was making him calm and comfortable. His train of thoughts came to halt when the car stopped next to a two storey mansion, which he could guess that was Harry's. It was really beautiful. 

Zayn hopped out of the car and closed the door behind him. He opened the back door and helped Louis to get Harry out of the car. When they reached to the front door, Zayn pulled out a set of keys from his pocket and opened the door with one of the keys, before heading inside. 

" Let’s just take him to one of the guest rooms, because his room is upstairs and it's impossible to get him up there in this condition." Zayn said and started walking when Louis gave him a small "Okay." 

When they get inside one of the guest room, Zayn put Harry on the bed and slowly made him lay down on it, Louis helped with Harry's feet propping up on the bed after removing his shoes for him. After that Louis pulled the duvet from under Harry's legs to cover his bottom half. Zayn fixed Harry's pillow and opened a few top buttons of his shirt for him before pulling the duvet up to his neck. 

" You should put a glass of juice and some advil for him." Louis advised. 

" Yeah, I will." Zayn said looking at Harry and then both of them walked out of the room to the living area. 

" Do you need me to stay here for help or should I just...." Louis trailed off looking at Zayn. 

" It's okay, I'll handle him. You can go home and you don't have to go back to shift as well. Just ask Niall to bring your things to your apartment. It'll save you the run. " Zayn said rubbing his hands over his face. 

" Zayn, are you okay ?" Louis asked hesitantly. 

Zayn nodded but a tear escaped from his eyes. 

" Zayn it's alright, I know it hurts, watching your best friend in a condition like this." Louis stopped for a moment and then again started talking  "It's not my place to ask you about this, but why was he drunk ? If you don't mind telling me. " Louis asked. 

" He met his ex boyfriend today, when he went to that meeting. That bastard said somethings that caused the breakdown. Harry was finally getting better after everything, but that a$$hole had to comeback. I swear I'm going to kill him one day." Zayn's face was controlled in anger, his eyes red. 

Louis looked down thinking about everything. He never had a relationship with anyone but he can understand what it feels like to get hurt by someone whom you once loved with your heart. He felt bad for Harry and if he could, he would have saved him from hurting himself from more pain. 

" I think I should go now, but if you need anything, just let me know. And if you need me to stay here for the night, I can do that too. I have no issues with that." Louis offered once again. 

" Thanks Louis for the offer but it's okay. Still if I need any help, I will let you know. " Zayn said giving him a smile. 

Louis nodded in agreement and started walking towards the main door but stopped and turned around. 

" Zayn, would you not tell Mr. Styles that I helped him in that condition, once he wakes up and doesn't remembers ? " 

Zayn looked at him in confusion and asked. 

" Why ?" 

" I just don't want him to feel any low of himself, once he realizes that I witnessed him in his downtime. Because it sometimes makes a person lose his self-esteem, and I definitely don't want him to feel like that. He's a really good person." Louis explained. 

Zayn was looking at him in amazement. He knew that Louis was a good guy for Harry, but knowing him like this each and every day with new qualities, was giving him more reasons to make the two possible at any cost. He gave him a smile. 

" Thanks for helping him and caring for him, Louis. You're a really good guy. And also, do you need a lift ? " 

Louis shake his head in no and said,  "I'll call a cab, you stay with him. He needs someone beside him. I'll talk to you tomorrow, bye." 

" Bye Louis and thanks again." Zayn said and closed the door when Louis walked out of his sight. 

That night was quite long for both Louis and Zayn. Louis was up all night thinking about what would have happened to Harry that caused this much pain to him. It was definitely not a simple break up between the two. He couldn't sleep well that night. He was still not over the heavy feeling inside his heart that he experienced when he witnessed Harry in that condition. 

On the other hand, Zayn was thinking about what will happen in the morning once Harry wakes up ? Will he be able to get back to his normal self or the breakdown will cause him to isolate from everyone again. It happened once before and that was really painful for everyone, resulting Harry to move out from New York to here in London. And that time he also had Liam by his side but now, he was alone. He can't tell Liam about this or he will drop everything and get on the next flight to London. He wouldn't think for a second. But for now, Zayn has to wait for Harry to wake up and decide himself, what he wants to do. 

Zayn's fear was right. When Harry woke up the next morning, he was not at all like before. The color from Harry's face was completely washed out. His eyes lost their spark and turned them in a dull green. When he woke up, he sat back resting his head back on the headboard of the bed. He closed his eyes as they started to brim with tears again when he remembered what Blake said to him when they met. 

 

* Flashback *

 

Blake cornered him after the meeting in a washroom. He locked the door and held his hands in his own. 

" I'm sorry, Harry. What I've done to you was nothing that anyone could ever forget and forgive about, but please give me another chance. I know you still love me and so do I. I promise that I will give you everything that I ever promised you. But please Harry give me another chance. Give US another chance. I will do anything." he begged with eyes shining with tears. 

Harry kept looking at his face that once he loved with his life but now he hates it with his heart. The golden brown eyes that once caused to skip a heartbeat, when he looked at him, but now only cause to remember all the times he got lied on. Harry snatched his hands free from his grip and pushed himself away from him. 

" You would do anything for me to take you back ?" Harry asked looking into his eyes. 

" Yes, H. Please babe, just give me a chance, I will do anything to earn your forgiveness. Please, just name it." Blake was almost on his knees. 

" Give me back what you took away from me and what was mine . Then and only then I will forgive you." Harry said, his eyes burning into Blake's soul. 

But when Blake didn't reply and looked down in shame, Harry chuckled darkly and said before storming out of the washroom. "That's what I thought, Mr. Blake Isaac Clarkson. "

 

* End of the flashback *

 

Harry tried to forget. Leave the past behind. But he couldn't do it when he saw him in that room, melting in someone else's arms, 2 years after he last saw him. Harry almost didn't recognize him , with a new hair colour and a happy smile he never wore with him on the last times they were together. But when Harry and his gazes intertwined like they used to, the waves of regret hit Harry like a rock eroded by the sea, why did he fell for his lies. Blake's eyes were the same perfect brown, looking at him with something between shame, regret and sadness. And Harry knew it was not because he was sad, but because he did the worst thing was possible to do to him. He was just a shadow made of memories and regrets for Harry. And they both knew why.

Harry was again standing at the same place where he was 3 years ago. Maybe he was a bit stronger than before but he still was hurting. How can he not be after how many times and in how many ways that person broke him. He distanced himself from everyone again. He once again started to behave like a soulless person, like he used to be . 

He goes to work and stays in his office for the whole time and gets back home. He no longer uses the front door to enter the hotel building but parks his car in the basement and takes the lift to the top floor, using his key card to lock it preventing from anyone else entering. He isolated himself from everyone except for Zayn and sometimes Perrie. He no longer smiles or talk more than necessary. He became like a robot. Harry still does not have any memories from the evening when Louis helped him and neither did he asked about it, how he got home. Zayn also kept his promise to Louis, not telling Harry about it. 

It's been more than two weeks since Louis or anyone else in the building has seen Harry. Everyone was aware of his presence in the building but not a single glimpse of his self appeared in front of anyone. Louis and Niall asked about it to Zayn and he explained him why was Harry acting like that. 

Zayn explained that Harry needed this separation from everyone or he had to move on to some other country, which Zayn thought was a bad idea for this situation. Because then there will be no one to help him there. He explained them that when last time Harry decided to move to here in London, Zayn came with him. But now that the business here is going really well and Harry is finally getting better, it could effect him in a wrong way to start from scratch. 

After few more days when Zayn felt like it was getting out of hands, he informed Liam about it and the reaction was same as he expected. Within 24 hours Liam was in London and scolding Zayn and Perrie for not telling him about it. Liam was the only person who knew about the real reason why Harry was like this except for Zayn and Perrie. 

When the next morning Harry found himself cuddling in Liam's arms, he cried. He cried untill his eyes started to burn and throat got soar. Liam held him close as much as possible, until his cries died down. And when it happened, front side of Liam's shirt was drenched in tears and back was crumbled from how strongly Harry was clutching on it. Neither did Harry or Liam left his house for two days. Liam helped him to get over the pain that Harry was going through. Even though Zayn was Harry's bestfriend and he always looked both Zayn and Liam as equal, but sometimes Harry needed the comfort from his Brother and Zayn had no problem with it. Because he knew how Liam and Harry's relationship was. 

It was now 29 August 3 days since Liam came back and also his birthday. No one except for Harry, Zayn and Perrie knew that Liam was in London ; neither their families in New York or anyone in London. Harry was feeling better today, he wished Liam a happy birthday and also baked a cake for him in the morning. Finally after almost a month, everyone took a breath of relief watching Harry smile. Liam really did help Harry cope from all the pain and today he was going to make the day count for him to finally get over from it. 

Harry was working on his laptop in the living area, when Liam came and plopped down next to him. 

" What are you doing, Pumpkin ?" he asked peeking at the screen. 

" Just finishing the inventory report to send it to Dad. He asked me to send it before 1st." Harry replied without taking his eyes off of the screen and kept typing. 

" How much left more to do ? " Liam asked. 

" 10 more minutes." 

" Good, cause I've got plans for tonight. " Liam announced excitedly. 

Harry's fingers stopped working and he turned to look at Liam with his eyebrows raised in curiosity. 

" Why do I feel like either I'm going to regret having a part of this plan of yours for tonight or probably be dragging you on my shoulder to our way back home, when the night will end ?" 

Liam gave him a cheeky smile before laying back on the sofa. " Shut up Mr. Hot Glasses. You're going to enjoy it." 

And now Harry was sure that it's going to be hell of a night for him. 

-

Harry was right, it was a bad idea to agree with Liam. Because now he was struck in the middle of a packed club where everyone was drunk and dancing like crazy, along with Liam, Perrie and Zayn. Well Zayn wasn't that drunk but Liam and Perrie were totally wasted. Harry on the other hand was completely sober. He only had a Virgin Mojito. He was sitting in a corner on the last bar stool, sipping on his second mocktail of the night, Blue Shoe. 

" Dear God, where the fu¢k is that boy ?" 

When Harry heard a familiar voice behind him, he turned around. He was face to back with a person whom he can recognise anywhere. 

" Niall, what are you doing here ?" Harry asked and the said person turned around. 

" H-Harry ? Oh my God, how are you man, how have you been ?" Niall asked in complete shock, seeing the man after almost a month . 

Harry hesitated a bit and then put his drink down before turning to him. 

" I'm okay. How are you and who were you talking about before ? " 

" I'm also good and I was just looking for Louis. I don't know where that stupid guy is. Just moments ago I dragged him out from the other club cause he started dancing on the bar and almost thrashed every other drinks resting on the counter. They literally threw both of us out from there if I have to say the truth . Then he ran out to here and that idiot guard let him in cause he slipped him some money. Even I had to give him some cash to let me in. I swear to God I'm never going to come with him ever again if he decides to get this drunk. " Niall rubbed his forehead. 

" What ? And where is he now ? " Harry asked getting worried. 

" I don't know man, he's such tiny that I can't even find...... " Niall was cut off by a loud high-pitched voice. 

" L'me go ya fookin loosah. " 

Harry and Niall's head turned to the side and their eyes widened after watching the scene. Louis was again dancing on the bar with a vodka bottle in his hand. He was throwing the liquor on the mans that were standing next to the bar. While the bartander was trying to get him down. 

" $hit." Niall and Harry both said in sync and rushed towards him. 

They had to push past through a lot people to get next to the bar. The club was high profile but it was filled with horny teenagers. 

"Louis get down now ! " Niall exclaimed as soon as he reached near him. 

" No, whore-ann. 'm gonna 'njoy the evening. You should too." he slurred and kept dancing. 

" Damn it, he's gonna get threw out of here as well." Niall muttered under his breath. 

" Excuse me, is this idiot with you two ?" the bartender asked between Louis' legs looking at Harry and Niall. 

" Hey watch your mouth." Harry glared at him. 

" I'm sorry sir, but you have to get him down before he causes anymore trouble. Because I'm really close to call the security and throw him out." Bartender said. 

" Allright, I'll get him down." Harry said before moving in front of Louis. 

"  Louis, you need to get down now. " Harry spoke out loud to Louis who looked down immediately with big blown eyes. 

" Ooooo lookie - lookie. Who decided to show up this fu¢ked up evening ? Isn't it Sister Myles. Ello sir..... " Louis said giving him an army salute, almost falling down. 

" Huh , Sister Myles ? " Niall asked. 

" Shut up Niall, he's trying to say Mr. Styles." 

" ooooo" 

" Louis, either you get down or I'm making you to." Harry warned. 

" Nah Sister Myles, he told me to enjoy my fu¢ked up life and I'm doing it. HERE'S TO MY FU¢KED UP LIFE, EVERYONE." Louis cheered and started drinking from the bottle. 

Harry looked at Niall who tried to ignore his eyes. " Niall, what is he talking about ? "

" I don't know. " Niall mumbled. 

" Niall,.... "

" Hey Mr., get him down or I'm calling the security. And pay for the drinks he wasted and drink." The bartender interrupted Harry. 

He gave him a curt nod, throwing some money at him before looking back at Louis. As soon as Louis came in front of him dancing, he grabbed his hand taking the bottle from it and put it on the counter. He then pulled him down before throwing him over his shoulder. Louis squeaked in surprise and held on to Harry's back like his life was dependent on it. 

" Sister Myles, let me goooooooo. Need to serve drinks. Whore-ann tell him." Louis said and looked at Niall pouting his lips when he got no response. 

" Whore-ann, talk to me." he started kicking and punching Harry on the back. 

" Louis, stop it." Niall and Harry both said together. Louis pouted his lips and went still over Harry's shoulder like a rag. 

When Harry reached to a separate lounge area where Liam, Zayn and Perrie were sitting already, he put him down on the sofa. 

" You are not going anywhere." Harry warned pointing a finger at him. 

" Hey Pumpkin, you brought my Munchkin." Liam suddenly exclaimed and except for Harry and Niall everyone sitting in the lounge, burst into laughter. Niall was surprised to see Liam sitting there. But inside his heart he felt...... Happy ? 

Louis rolled over to his side while laughing and when he finally came down from his high, he said raising three fingers up. 

" Two - two things. First, from which angle Sister Myles, looks like a Pumpkin and Two, Pumpkin and Munchkin RHYMES ." Louis exclaimed at the end and again toppled over laughing along with Zayn, Perrie and Liam. 

Harry looked at Niall and both of them shook their head before sitting down. Harry sat next to a laughing Louis and Niall next to Zayn. 

" Hey! That's my Munchkin, I want to sit next to him." Liam said and stood up from where he was sitting and started making his way to Niall but somehow he got stumbled upon something and fell right over Niall. 

" Oomph.... Oh my God, get off me you idiot." Niall exclaimed when Liam wasn't moving from where he fell over him. Harry shook his head before getting up and peeled Liam off of him and made him to sit beside Niall . 

" Harry Noooooo that's my Munchkin, no take him away from me." Liam cried and pulled Niall into his arms and make him nuzzle his face into his neck. 

" For the love of God, Liam, stays away from me. You reek of a fu¢king bar." Niall said and pushed his hands off before standing up. Liam's lips pouted, he was resembling a sad puppy looking up at Niall . 

Niall ignored him started walking to where Harry was sitting before but stopped in his tracks and frantically started looking around. 

" Where the heck did Louis go ?" he exclaimed. 

Harry turned around to look and his eyes widened as well. " $hit, he was right there. I just stood up to help you and he ran away." 

Niall fell on the sofa and groaned,  "I'm sick of him seriously." 

" It's okay, just wait here, I'll find him and get him back." Harry said and scurried away from there. 

Harry was looking everywhere for Louis but he couldn't find him. It was impossible to find someone so tiny over the crowd. He was about to go to the bar where he last time found him but suddenly a familiar voice stopped him again. 

" ooh ooh me me, next me please." 

Harry heard the words followed by a loud cheering. He was already thinking of something bad, but when he reached out to where the voice came from, his eyes started burning in anger. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. There Louis was laying on a table with his t-shirt lifted up exposing his belly, and boys and girls gathered around him cheering. Suddenly a guy poured a shot of vodka into his bellybutton. 

The guy was about to drink it from Louis' naval, and that's when Harry interfered and stopped him by pushing him back. The guy stumbled back in shock and all the cheering suddenly stopped. Another guy tried to move forward but Harry gave him a deadly glare. 

" Don't you fu¢king dare to come near him or I'll smash your face." his gruff voice was enough for everyone to back out with their hands held up in surrender. 

" Louis get up." Harry said looking at him, who was laying there without a tension but a sweet smile on face. 

" Louis, I said get up. " Harry repeated himself this time nudging Louis' arm, which caused him to open his eyes in confusion. 

" What ? They haven't drank the shot yet, Sir. Hey you, Mr. Big Biceps, come here and finish your job." Louis first gave Harry the puppy eyes and then glared at the guy who was going to do the shot in the first place. 

" Don't you dare move your legs or I swear to God I will break them in two. " Harry hissed at the guy, and he walked away from there with fearful eyes. 

" Sister Myles, how dare you ? Get him back for me." Louis glared at Harry laying there and folded his arms before pouting his lips. 

" Louis, I'm not going to let anyone touch you, now get up." Harry said folding his arms as well growling at everyone who was still there gawking at Louis' smooth and soft belly. 

" THEN I'M NOT GOING TO GET UP AS WELL, UNTILL SOMEONE TAKES THIS SHOT FROM MY BELLY. " Louis screamed at Harry and suddenly his eyes started to brim with tears as the pout got more prominent. 

Harry looked at his face and his heart start melting at Louis' innocent face and his tears. But Harry was definitely not going to allow anyone touch him, let alone put their lips on his stomach, never in million years. He rubbed his face in frustration and groaned loudly before huffing. 

" Allright Allright." and he ducked down to lap the shot from Louis' naval without thinking much about it . 

Louis squealed in surprise when Harry's lips touched his belly and he giggled out loud throwing his left hand over Harry's shoulder and gripped his shirt collar. 

Harry pulled back from Louis' belly and immediately pulled down his t-shirt, before gathering him into his arms and making his way out of the club, because that was enough clubbing for a day. As soon as he walked out, he somehow managed to open his cars backdoor before putting Louis inside. But Louis' wasn't leaving his collar so he had to get inside with him too. When he closed the door, the very next second he found Louis sitting in his lap and nuzzling his face into Harry's neck. 

Harry was shocked would be an understatement, he did not know where to put his hands, so he just put his left hand on Louis' upper back so he didn't fall behind and with other hand he pulled out his phone. When Harry shifted a little bit to pull out his phone, Louis almost slipped down from Harry's lap but he caught him. The commotion seemed a bit funny to Louis, because he started giggling into Harry's neck. But after a second or two Louis calm down again and sighed before hugging Harry's middle and nosing on his exposed chest skin. 

Harry was experiencing a million sensations in his body at the moment. His mind stopped working and his hands started shaking. After 3 years of his breakup , this was the first time someone was this close to him like that. His heartbeat was about to drop any second now, but his phone saved him when it started ringing. He looked at the screen and read the name before answering it. 

" H-Hello, Zayn ." 

" Harry, where are you and where is Louis ? We are leaving, Liam won't stop driving Niall crazy. I'm sure if we did not leave soon, Niall is going to murder him." 

" I'm outside of the club in my car, Louis is with me. He's totally wasted. "

" Allright we're coming. "

" okay." and Harry disconnected the call before looking down at Louis. 

" Okay." Harry breath out. 

" mmmm 'Kay. " Louis mumbled into his chest and nuzzled his face again, causing Harry to smile down at him. 

This is going to be an interesting night indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there Lovely People, this is my third story.
> 
> Two things about the Prologue.... 
> 
> The first scene of the chapter, I've witnessed it this morning in my dream with Harry wearing that suit and fighting & all. And second scene of the chapter happened to me in real life when I was going through some of the toughest time of my life in 2014.... 
> 
> Just wanna let you all know that this story was supposed to be started with the second scene but that dream changed my mind. So yeah I hope you all like it.... And don't forget to check out my other work too.. 
> 
> "Arranged To Love" and "Second Chances". 
> 
> English is not my first language so if I make any kind of mistakes, please don't hate me. Just be a sweetheart and let me know, I will try to fix them.


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